English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Although typically possessing four limbs and short bodies, lizards haveevolved a diversity of body plans, from short-bodied and fully-limbed toelongate and nearly limbless. Such diversity in body morphology is hypothesizedas adaptations to locomotion cluttered terrestrial environments, but the modeof propulsion -- e.g., the use of body and/or limbs to interact with thesubstrate -- and potential body/limb coordination remain unstudied. Here, weuse biological experiments, a geometric theory of locomotion, and robophysicalexperiments to comparatively and systematically investigate such dynamics in adiverse sample of lizard morphologies. Locomotor field studies in short-limb,elongated lizards (Brachymeles) and laboratory studies of full-limbed lizards(Uma scoparia and Sceloporus olivaceus) and a limbless laterally undulatingorganism (Chionactis occipitalis) reveal that the body wave dynamics can bedescribed by a combination of traveling and standing waves; the ratio of theamplitudes of these components is inversely related to limb length. We usegeometric theory to analyze and explain the wave dynamics and body-legcoordination observations; the theory predicts that leg thrust modulates thebody weight distribution and self-propulsion generation mechanism, which inturn facilitates the choice of body waves. We test our hypothesis in biologicalexperiments by inducing the use of traveling wave in stereotyped lizards bymodulating the ground penetration resistance, as well as in controllednon-biological experiments involving an undulating limbed robophysical model.Our models could be valuable in understanding functional constraints on theevolutionary process of elongation and limb reduction in lizards, as well asadvancing robot designs.

Coordinating tiny limbs and long bodies: geometric mechanics of diverse undulatory lizard locomotion