Crouched Locomotion in Small Mammals: The Effects of Habitat and Aging

TL;DRAbstract

This dissertation project seeks to elucidate the biomechanics of crouched locomotion in small mammals using natural, ecologically relevant perturbations-aging and substrate.The second chapter of this dissertation examines locomotion and sarcopenia in the aging rat, arguably one of most well-studied model vertebrates.Rather than focusing on rats as human models, however, this paper addresses some of the specific challenges encountered by small, crouched animals, the importance of incorporating whole-animal performance measures, and finally how aging might be used as a model experimental technique.The third and fourth chapters of this study address four aspects of tunnel ("subterranean") locomotion -posture, gait, COM mechanics and energetic cost of locomotion -with comparison to epigean (unconstrained, or overground) conditions.These data are then synthesized to broadly illustrate the performance consequences of tunnel locomotion in small mammals, with particular focus on how mammals ma

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