Skip to main content
Log in

Living in a physical world VI. Gravity and life in the air

  • Series
  • Published:
Journal of Biosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  • Alexander D E 2002Nature's flyers: birds, insects, and the biomechanics of flight (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Augspurger C K 1986 Morphology and dispersal potential of wind-dispersed diaspores of neotropical trees;Am. J. Bot. 73 353–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azuma A 1992The biokinetics of flying and swimming (Tokyo: Springer-Verlag)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Azuma A and Okuno Y 1987 Flight of a samara,Alsomitra macrocarpa;J. Theor. Biol. 129 263–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birkhoff G 1960Hydrodynamics: a study in logic, fact, and similitude 2nd edition (Princeton: Princeton University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bramwell C D 1971 Aerodynamics ofPteranodon;Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 3 313–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daniel T L 1984 Unsteady aspects of aquatic locomotion;Am. Zool. 24 121–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denny M W 1988Biology and the mechanics of the wave-swept environment (Princeton: Princeton University Press)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Denny M W 1993Air and water: the biology and physics of life's media (Princeton: Princeton University press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudley R 2000The biomechanics of insect flight: form, function, evolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudley R and DeVries P 1990 Tropical rain forest structure and the geographical distribution of gliding vertebrates;Biotropica 22 432–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dudley R and Ellington C P 1990 Mechanics of forward flight in bumblebees. II. Quasi-steady lift and power calculations;J. Exp. Biol. 148 53–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellington C P 1984 The aerodynamics of hovering flight;Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London B305 1–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Geiger R 1965The climate near the ground, Revised edition (Cambridge: Harvard University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibo D L and Pallett M J 1979 Soaring flight of monarch butterflies;Can. J. Zool. 57 1393–1401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glasheen J W and McMahon T A 1996 size-dependence of waterrunning ability in basilisk lizards(Basiliscus basiliscus);J. Exp. Biol. 199 2611–2618

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayami I 1991 Living and fossil scallop shells as airfoils: an experimental study;Paleobiology 17 271–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall F G, Dill D B and Barron E S G 1936 Comparative physiology in high altitudes;J. Cell. Comp. Physiol. 8 301–313

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ingold C T 1971Fungal spores: their liberation and dispersal (Oxford: Clarendon Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen M 1956 Biology and physics of locust flight. III. The aerodynamics of locust flight;Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London B239 511–552

    Google Scholar 

  • Kling G W, Clark M A, Compton H R, Devine J D, Evans W C, Humphrey A M, Koenigsberg E J, Lockwood J P, Tuttle M L and Wagner G L 1987 The 1986 Lake Nyos gas disaster in Cameroon, West Africa;Science 236 169–175

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koehl M A R, Jumars P A and Karp-Boss L 2003 Algal biophysics; inOut of the past (ed.) A D Norton (Belfast: British Phycological Association) pp 115–130

    Google Scholar 

  • McGahan J 1973 Gliding flight of the Andean condor in nature;J. Exp. Biol. 58 225–237

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGuire J A and Dudley R 2005 Comparative gliding performance of flying lizards;Am. Nat. 166 93–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMahon T A and Bonner J T 1983On size and life (New York: Scientific American Library)

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaelides E E 1997 Review-the transient equation of motion for particles, bubbles, and droplets;J. Fluids Engin. 119 233–247

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Monteith J L and Unsworth M 1990Principles of environmental physics, 2nd edition (Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann)

    Google Scholar 

  • Niklas K J 1984 The motion of windborne pollen grains around conifer ovulate cones: implications on wind pollination;Am. J. Bot. 71 356–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norberg U M 1990Vertebrate flight: mechanics, physiology, morphology, ecology and evolution. (Berlin: Springer-Verlag)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Okubo A and Levins S A 1989 A theoretical framework for data analysis of wind dispersal of seeds and pollen;Ecology 70 329–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrott G C 1970 Aerodynamics of gliding flight of a black vultureCoragyps atratus;J. Exp. Biol. 53 363–374

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennycuick C J 1960 Gliding flight of the fulmar petrel;J. Exp. Biol. 37 330–338

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennycuick C J 1971 Gliding flight of the white-backed vulture,Gyps africanus;J. Exp. Biol. 55 13–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennycuick C J 1982 The flight of petrels and albatrosses (Procellariiformes), observed in South Georgia and its vicinity;Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London B300 75–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennycuick C J, Klaassen M, Kvist A and Lindström A 1996 Wingbeat frequency and the body drag anomaly: wind-tunnel observations on a thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) and a teal (Anas crecca);J. Exp. Biol. 199 2757–2765

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Persson A 1998 How do we understand the Coriolis force?;Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 1373–1385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rabinowitz D and Rapp J K 1981 Dispersal abilities of seven sparse and common grasses from a Missouri prairie;Am. J. Bot. 68 616–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Socha J J 2002 Gliding flight in the paradise tree snake;Nature (London) 418 603–604

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Socha J J, O'Dempsey T and LaBarbera M 2005. A three-dimensional kinematic analysis of gliding in a flying snake,Chrysopeleaparadisi;J. Exp. Biol. 208 1817–1833

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor F W 2005Elementary climate physics (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tennekes H 1996The simple science of flight: from insects to jumbo jets (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thom A and Swart P 1940 The forces on an aerofoil at very low speeds;J. R. Aero. Soc. 44 761–770

    Google Scholar 

  • Trail F, Gaffoor I and Vogel S 2005 Ejection mechanics and trajectory of the ascospores ofGibberella zeae;Fungal Genet. Biol. 42 528–533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tucker V A 2000 Gliding flight: drag a torque of a hawk and a falcon with straight and turned heads, and a lower value for the parasite drag coefficient;J. Exp. Biol. 203 3733–3744

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tucker V A and Heine C 1990 Aerodynamics of gliding flight in a Harris' hawk,Parabuteo unicinctus;J. Exp. Biol. 149 469–489

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker V A and Parrott, G C 1970 Aerodynamics of gliding flight in a falcon and other birds;J. Exp. Biol. 52 345–367

    Google Scholar 

  • Verkaar H J, Schenkeveld A J and van de Klashorst M P 1983 The ecology of short-lived forbs in chalk grasslands: dispersal of seeds;New Phytol. 95 335–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel S 1966 Flight inDrosophila. I. Flight performance of tethered flies;J. Exp. Biol. 44 567–578

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel S 1994Life in moving fluids 2nd edition (Princeton: Princeton University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel S 2005a Living in a physical world II. The bio-ballistics of small projectiles;J. Biosci. 30 167–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel S 2005b Living in a physical world IV. Moving heat around;J. Biosci. 30 449–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner H 1925 Über die Entstehung des dynamischen Auftriebes von Tragflügeln;Z. Angew. Math. Mech. 5 17–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward-Smith A J 1984Biophysical aerodynamics and the natural environment (Chichester: Wiley-Interscience)

    Google Scholar 

  • Weast R C (ed.) 1987CRC handbook of chemistry and physics, 68th edition (Boca Raton: CRC Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Weis-Fogh T 1956 Biology and physics of locust flight. II. Flight performance of the desert locust;Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London B239 459–510

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner P A and Platt W J 1976 Ecological relationships of cooccurring goldenrods (Solidago:Compositae);Am. Nat. 110 959–971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wigglesworth V B 1963 Origin of wings in insects;Nature (London) 197 97–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Withers P C 1981 An aerodynamic analysis of bird wings as fixed aerofoils;J. Exp. Biol. 90 143–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Yarwood C E and Hazen W E 1942 Vertical orientation of powdery mildew conidia during fall;Science 96 316–317

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vogel, S. Living in a physical world VI. Gravity and life in the air. J. Biosci. 31, 13–25 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02705231

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02705231

Keywords

Navigation