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Temperature effects on the jumping performance of house crickets
Author(s) -
Deban Stephen M.,
Anderson Christopher V.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part a: ecological and integrative physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.834
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2471-5646
pISSN - 2471-5638
DOI - 10.1002/jez.2510
Subject(s) - acheta , jumping , cricket , jump , recoil , inverse dynamics , materials science , control theory (sociology) , simulation , physics , computer science , biology , kinematics , ecology , classical mechanics , artificial intelligence , atomic physics , physiology , control (management) , quantum mechanics
Insect jumping and other explosive animal movements often make use of elastic‐recoil mechanisms to enhance performance. These mechanisms circumvent the intrinsic rate limitations on muscle shortening, allowing for greater power production as well as thermal robustness of the associated movements. Here we examine the performance and temperature effects on jumping in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus , using high‐speed imaging and inverse dynamics analysis. We find that adult house crickets jumped with greater performance than would be possible using direct muscle shortening, generating a peak power of over 2000 W/kg of muscle mass and maintaining high performance across the entire tested range of body temperatures (12–32°C). Performance declined at the lowest temperature (12°C), yet jump power still exceeds available muscle power. These results reveal that Acheta domesticus makes use of an elastic‐recoil mechanism that enhances both the performance and thermal robustness of jumping.