The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal
Foraging theory predicts that breath-hold divers adjust the time spent foraging at depth relative to the energetic cost of swimming, which varies with buoyancy (body density). However, the buoyancy of diving animals varies as a function of their body condition, and the effects of these changes on sw...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 2024-06-23T07:52:30+00:00 The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal Adachi, Taiki Maresh, Jennifer L. Robinson, Patrick W. Peterson, Sarah H. Costa, Daniel P. Naito, Yasuhiko Watanabe, Yuuki Y. Takahashi, Akinori 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 281, issue 1797, page 20142120 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2014 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 2024-06-10T04:15:10Z Foraging theory predicts that breath-hold divers adjust the time spent foraging at depth relative to the energetic cost of swimming, which varies with buoyancy (body density). However, the buoyancy of diving animals varies as a function of their body condition, and the effects of these changes on swimming costs and foraging behaviour have been poorly examined. A novel animal-borne accelerometer was developed that recorded the number of flipper strokes, which allowed us to monitor the number of strokes per metre swam (hereafter, referred to as strokes-per-metre) by female northern elephant seals over their months-long, oceanic foraging migrations. As negatively buoyant seals increased their fat stores and buoyancy, the strokes-per-metre increased slightly in the buoyancy-aided direction (descending), but decreased significantly in the buoyancy-hindered direction (ascending), with associated changes in swim speed and gliding duration. Overall, the round-trip strokes-per-metre decreased and reached a minimum value when seals achieved neutral buoyancy. Consistent with foraging theory, seals stayed longer at foraging depths when their round-trip strokes-per-metre was less. Therefore, neutrally buoyant divers gained an energetic advantage via reduced swimming costs, which resulted in an increase in time spent foraging at depth, suggesting a foraging benefit of being fat. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seals The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281 1797 20142120 |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Foraging theory predicts that breath-hold divers adjust the time spent foraging at depth relative to the energetic cost of swimming, which varies with buoyancy (body density). However, the buoyancy of diving animals varies as a function of their body condition, and the effects of these changes on swimming costs and foraging behaviour have been poorly examined. A novel animal-borne accelerometer was developed that recorded the number of flipper strokes, which allowed us to monitor the number of strokes per metre swam (hereafter, referred to as strokes-per-metre) by female northern elephant seals over their months-long, oceanic foraging migrations. As negatively buoyant seals increased their fat stores and buoyancy, the strokes-per-metre increased slightly in the buoyancy-aided direction (descending), but decreased significantly in the buoyancy-hindered direction (ascending), with associated changes in swim speed and gliding duration. Overall, the round-trip strokes-per-metre decreased and reached a minimum value when seals achieved neutral buoyancy. Consistent with foraging theory, seals stayed longer at foraging depths when their round-trip strokes-per-metre was less. Therefore, neutrally buoyant divers gained an energetic advantage via reduced swimming costs, which resulted in an increase in time spent foraging at depth, suggesting a foraging benefit of being fat. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Adachi, Taiki Maresh, Jennifer L. Robinson, Patrick W. Peterson, Sarah H. Costa, Daniel P. Naito, Yasuhiko Watanabe, Yuuki Y. Takahashi, Akinori |
spellingShingle |
Adachi, Taiki Maresh, Jennifer L. Robinson, Patrick W. Peterson, Sarah H. Costa, Daniel P. Naito, Yasuhiko Watanabe, Yuuki Y. Takahashi, Akinori The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal |
author_facet |
Adachi, Taiki Maresh, Jennifer L. Robinson, Patrick W. Peterson, Sarah H. Costa, Daniel P. Naito, Yasuhiko Watanabe, Yuuki Y. Takahashi, Akinori |
author_sort |
Adachi, Taiki |
title |
The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal |
title_short |
The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal |
title_full |
The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal |
title_fullStr |
The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal |
title_full_unstemmed |
The foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal |
title_sort |
foraging benefits of being fat in a highly migratory marine mammal |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 |
genre |
Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 281, issue 1797, page 20142120 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2120 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
281 |
container_issue |
1797 |
container_start_page |
20142120 |
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1802643804389376000 |