BIO325H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Mantis Shrimp, Parasitism
Document Summary
Inserting a spring into a biological system offers a myriad of opportunities, ranging from powerful weaponry to efficient running. At one end of the spectrum, a spring can allow an animal to produce extremely fast movements. The tool i suppose is the flea"s hind limb. Isometric muscle contraction and resilin compression are the basis of high- power leaping in fleas: antagonistic muscles contract simultaneously, which stops normal appendage movement, but pulls the coxa up against the pleural plate squeezing the resilinpad. Strain energy is stored in the pad, then released in a short time, contributing to power the jump as the hind legs extend. In this paper the authors discuss two hypotheses of how the flea jump works: rothschild h0 trochanters driven into ground" 2) bennet-clark h0 overall extension of leg speeded up". In making its jump the flea uses antagonistic coxaland trochantalmuscles isometrically(the engine) to load energy of distortion into the resilinpads.
