Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales.
Although gigantic body size and obligate filter feeding mechanisms have evolved in multiple vertebrate lineages (mammals and fishes), intermittent ram (lunge) filter feeding is unique to a specific family of baleen whales: rorquals. Lunge feeding is a high cost, high benefit feeding mechanism that r...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
eScholarship, University of California
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wb4879p |
id |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt9wb4879p |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt9wb4879p 2023-10-01T03:54:55+02:00 Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. Gough, William Cade, David Czapanskiy, Max Potvin, Jean Fish, Frank Kahane-Rapport, Shirel Savoca, Matthew Bierlich, K Johnston, David Friedlaender, Ari Szabo, Andy Bejder, Lars Goldbogen, Jeremy 2022-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wb4879p unknown eScholarship, University of California qt9wb4879p https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wb4879p public Integrative Organismal Biology, vol 4, iss 1 article 2022 ftcdlib 2023-09-04T18:02:47Z Although gigantic body size and obligate filter feeding mechanisms have evolved in multiple vertebrate lineages (mammals and fishes), intermittent ram (lunge) filter feeding is unique to a specific family of baleen whales: rorquals. Lunge feeding is a high cost, high benefit feeding mechanism that requires the integration of unsteady locomotion (i.e., accelerations and maneuvers); the impact of scale on the biomechanics and energetics of this foraging mode continues to be the subject of intense study. The goal of our investigation was to use a combination of multi-sensor tags paired with UAS footage to determine the impact of morphometrics such as body size on kinematic lunging parameters such as fluking timing, maximum lunging speed, and deceleration during the engulfment period for a range of species from minke to blue whales. Our results show that, in the case of krill-feeding lunges and regardless of size, animals exhibit a skewed gradient between powered and fully unpowered engulfment, with fluking generally ending at the point of both the maximum lunging speed and mouth opening. In all cases, the small amounts of propulsive thrust generated by the tail were unable to overcome the high drag forces experienced during engulfment. Assuming this thrust to be minimal, we predicted the minimum speed of lunging across scale. To minimize the energetic cost of lunge feeding, hydrodynamic theory predicts slower lunge feeding speeds regardless of body size, with a lower boundary set by the ability of the prey to avoid capture. We used empirical data to test this theory and instead found that maximum foraging speeds remain constant and high (∼4 m s-1) across body size, even as higher speeds result in lower foraging efficiency. Regardless, we found an increasing relationship between body size and this foraging efficiency, estimated as the ratio of energetic gain from prey to energetic cost. This trend held across timescales ranging from a single lunge to a single day and suggests that larger whales are capturing more ... Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whales University of California: eScholarship Rorqual ENVELOPE(-62.311,-62.311,-65.648,-65.648) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
description |
Although gigantic body size and obligate filter feeding mechanisms have evolved in multiple vertebrate lineages (mammals and fishes), intermittent ram (lunge) filter feeding is unique to a specific family of baleen whales: rorquals. Lunge feeding is a high cost, high benefit feeding mechanism that requires the integration of unsteady locomotion (i.e., accelerations and maneuvers); the impact of scale on the biomechanics and energetics of this foraging mode continues to be the subject of intense study. The goal of our investigation was to use a combination of multi-sensor tags paired with UAS footage to determine the impact of morphometrics such as body size on kinematic lunging parameters such as fluking timing, maximum lunging speed, and deceleration during the engulfment period for a range of species from minke to blue whales. Our results show that, in the case of krill-feeding lunges and regardless of size, animals exhibit a skewed gradient between powered and fully unpowered engulfment, with fluking generally ending at the point of both the maximum lunging speed and mouth opening. In all cases, the small amounts of propulsive thrust generated by the tail were unable to overcome the high drag forces experienced during engulfment. Assuming this thrust to be minimal, we predicted the minimum speed of lunging across scale. To minimize the energetic cost of lunge feeding, hydrodynamic theory predicts slower lunge feeding speeds regardless of body size, with a lower boundary set by the ability of the prey to avoid capture. We used empirical data to test this theory and instead found that maximum foraging speeds remain constant and high (∼4 m s-1) across body size, even as higher speeds result in lower foraging efficiency. Regardless, we found an increasing relationship between body size and this foraging efficiency, estimated as the ratio of energetic gain from prey to energetic cost. This trend held across timescales ranging from a single lunge to a single day and suggests that larger whales are capturing more ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gough, William Cade, David Czapanskiy, Max Potvin, Jean Fish, Frank Kahane-Rapport, Shirel Savoca, Matthew Bierlich, K Johnston, David Friedlaender, Ari Szabo, Andy Bejder, Lars Goldbogen, Jeremy |
spellingShingle |
Gough, William Cade, David Czapanskiy, Max Potvin, Jean Fish, Frank Kahane-Rapport, Shirel Savoca, Matthew Bierlich, K Johnston, David Friedlaender, Ari Szabo, Andy Bejder, Lars Goldbogen, Jeremy Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. |
author_facet |
Gough, William Cade, David Czapanskiy, Max Potvin, Jean Fish, Frank Kahane-Rapport, Shirel Savoca, Matthew Bierlich, K Johnston, David Friedlaender, Ari Szabo, Andy Bejder, Lars Goldbogen, Jeremy |
author_sort |
Gough, William |
title |
Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. |
title_short |
Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. |
title_full |
Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. |
title_fullStr |
Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales. |
title_sort |
fast and furious: energetic tradeoffs and scaling of high-speed foraging in rorqual whales. |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wb4879p |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-62.311,-62.311,-65.648,-65.648) |
geographic |
Rorqual |
geographic_facet |
Rorqual |
genre |
baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales |
op_source |
Integrative Organismal Biology, vol 4, iss 1 |
op_relation |
qt9wb4879p https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wb4879p |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1778522953417228288 |