High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals
Productive areas are patchily distributed at sea and represent important feeding grounds for many marine organisms. Although pinnipeds are known to travel on direct routes and return regularly to particular feeding sites, the environmental information seals use to perform this navigation is as yet u...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 2024-06-23T07:55:08+00:00 High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals Kowalewsky, Sylvia Dambach, Martin Mauck, Björn Dehnhardt, Guido 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 2, issue 1, page 106-109 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2005 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 2024-06-04T06:22:55Z Productive areas are patchily distributed at sea and represent important feeding grounds for many marine organisms. Although pinnipeds are known to travel on direct routes and return regularly to particular feeding sites, the environmental information seals use to perform this navigation is as yet unknown. As atmospheric dimethyl sulphide (DMS) has been demonstrated to be a reliable indicator for profitable foraging areas, we tested seals for their ability to smell DMS at concentrations typical for the marine environment. Using a go/no-go response paradigm we determined the DMS detection threshold in two harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina vitulina ). DMS stimuli from 8.05×10 8 to 8 pmol (DMS) m −3 (air) were tested against a control stimulus using a custom-made olfactometer. DMS-thresholds determined for both seals (20 and 13 pmol m −3 ) indicate that seals can detect ambient concentrations associated with high primary productivity, e.g. in the North Atlantic. Thus, seals possess an extraordinarily high olfactory sensitivity for DMS, which could provide a sensory basis for identifying or orienting to profitable foraging grounds. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Phoca vitulina The Royal Society Biology Letters 2 1 106 109 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Productive areas are patchily distributed at sea and represent important feeding grounds for many marine organisms. Although pinnipeds are known to travel on direct routes and return regularly to particular feeding sites, the environmental information seals use to perform this navigation is as yet unknown. As atmospheric dimethyl sulphide (DMS) has been demonstrated to be a reliable indicator for profitable foraging areas, we tested seals for their ability to smell DMS at concentrations typical for the marine environment. Using a go/no-go response paradigm we determined the DMS detection threshold in two harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina vitulina ). DMS stimuli from 8.05×10 8 to 8 pmol (DMS) m −3 (air) were tested against a control stimulus using a custom-made olfactometer. DMS-thresholds determined for both seals (20 and 13 pmol m −3 ) indicate that seals can detect ambient concentrations associated with high primary productivity, e.g. in the North Atlantic. Thus, seals possess an extraordinarily high olfactory sensitivity for DMS, which could provide a sensory basis for identifying or orienting to profitable foraging grounds. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kowalewsky, Sylvia Dambach, Martin Mauck, Björn Dehnhardt, Guido |
spellingShingle |
Kowalewsky, Sylvia Dambach, Martin Mauck, Björn Dehnhardt, Guido High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals |
author_facet |
Kowalewsky, Sylvia Dambach, Martin Mauck, Björn Dehnhardt, Guido |
author_sort |
Kowalewsky, Sylvia |
title |
High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals |
title_short |
High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals |
title_full |
High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals |
title_fullStr |
High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
High olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals |
title_sort |
high olfactory sensitivity for dimethyl sulphide in harbour seals |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 |
genre |
North Atlantic Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 2, issue 1, page 106-109 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0380 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
106 |
op_container_end_page |
109 |
_version_ |
1802647579142389760 |