Air-to-land transitions: from wingless animals and plant seeds to shuttlecocks and bio-inspired robots.

Recent observations of wingless animals, including jumping nematodes, springtails, insects, and wingless vertebrates like geckos, snakes, and salamanders, have shown that their adaptations and body morphing are essential for rapid self-righting and controlled landing. These skills can reduce the risk of physical damage during collision, minimize recoil during landing, and allow for a quick escape response to minimize predation risk. The size, mass distribution, and speed of an animal determine its self-righting method, with larger animals depending on the conservation of angular momentum and smaller animals primarily using aerodynamic forces.

Characterizing lift, drag, and pressure differences across wandering salamanders (Aneides vagrans) with computational fluid dynamics to investigate aerodynamics.

Wandering salamanders (Aneides vagrans), known to occupy the crowns of old growth coast redwood trees, have recently been found to decelerate and engage in controlled, nonvertical descent while falling. Closely related, nonarboreal species with seemingly minor morphological differences exhibit far less behavioral control while falling; however, the influence of salamander morphology on aerodynamics remains to be tested. Here, we examine differences in morphology and aerodynamics of two salamander species, A.

Aerial maneuvering by plethodontid salamanders spanning an arboreality gradient.

Wandering salamanders (Aneides vagrans) inhabit the crowns of the world's tallest trees, taking refuge in epiphytic fern mats within these complex arboreal environments. These salamanders readily jump from the canopy when disturbed and maintain stable postures while falling via fine adjustments of the limbs and tail in lieu of dedicated aerodynamic control surfaces, thus reliably carrying out non-vertical descent. Here, we examined the aerial behavior and performance of A.

Gliding and parachuting by arboreal salamanders.

Wandering salamanders (Aneides vagrans) reside in the crowns of the world's tallest trees and have been observed to readily jump from the canopy when disturbed. Here, we describe the aerial performance of falling A. vagrans, which maintain stable gliding postures via adjustments of the limbs and tail in lieu of specialized control surfaces.

Jumping in arboreal salamanders: A possible tradeoff between takeoff velocity and in-air posture.

Jumping performance can have important implications for an animal's fitness by expanding its ability to evade predators and move between microhabitats. Jumping in terrestrial plethodontid salamanders is achieved through lateral bending and rapid unbending of the trunk, an action powered by axial musculature. Arboreal plethodontids, some of which are known to occupy tree crowns, tend to have more robust limbs and longer digits, which may affect their jumping kinematics and performance.