CHANGES IN HEART RATE VARIABILITY DURING DIVING IN YOUNG HARBOR SEALS, PHOCA VITULINA

A bstract We studied changes in the patterns of heart rate variability (HRV) that coincide with the development of diving skills in harbor seal pups, Phoca vitulina . Heart rate measurements were collected remotely. Spectral analysis of HRV revealed power within a mid‐frequency band (0.1–0.3 Hz) whi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Mammal Science
Main Authors: Greaves, Danielle K., Hughson, Richard L., Topor, Zbigniew, Schreer, Jason F., Burns, Jennifer M., Hammill, Michael O.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2004
Subjects:
Aquatic Science
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
harbor seal
Phoca vitulina
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2004.tb01197.x
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1748-7692.2004.tb01197.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2004.tb01197.x
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Summary:A bstract We studied changes in the patterns of heart rate variability (HRV) that coincide with the development of diving skills in harbor seal pups, Phoca vitulina . Heart rate measurements were collected remotely. Spectral analysis of HRV revealed power within a mid‐frequency band (0.1–0.3 Hz) which was prominent, especially in pups less than 10 d of age. In these younger pups, the heart rate switched cyclically between a low and a high diving heart rate every 3–10 sec. Older pups exhibited a highly controlled diving bradycardia with a lower median and a lower variance when compared to younger individuals. These results provide new insight into the maturation of the bradycardia component of the dive response in harbor seal pups.

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