... limits of small jumping insects, biologists established the idea of power amplification, which refers both to a measurement technique and to a conceptual framework defined by the mechanical power output of a system exceeding muscle limits. However, the field of fast elastically driven movements has...

... flight. These measurements allow us to characterize the contractile behavior and mechanical power output of the pectoralis under dynamic conditions of slow level flight in pigeons Columba livia . Our recordings confirm that the pigeon pectoralis generates in vivo work loops that begin with the rapid...

... in wingbeat kinematics were accompanied by a reduction in muscle efficiency: wingbeat frequency increased but stroke amplitude decreased when hovering in the cold (stroke amplitude changes in the opposite direction to keep the mechanical power output approximately constant). By forcing the resonant system...

... Wkg -1 in the summer-acclimatized fish. 11 1 1991 © 1991 by Company of Biologists 1991 skeletal muscle work mechanical power output temperature acclimatization swimming fish Myoxocephalus scorpius The muscle fibres in fish myotomes undergo cyclical contractions...