Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air
Echolocating toothed whales produce powerful clicks pneumatically to detect prey in the deep sea where this long-range sensory channel makes them formidable top predators. However, air supplies for sound production compress with depth following Boyle's law suggesting that deep-diving whales mus...
Published in: | Scientific Reports |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Springer Nature
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/346345 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85074267116 |
id |
ftcsic:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/346345 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcsic:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/346345 2024-06-23T07:57:12+00:00 Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark 2019-10-31 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/346345 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85074267116 en eng Springer Nature Scientific reports Publisher's version https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 No Scientific Reports 9 : 15720 (2019) http://hdl.handle.net/10261/346345 doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 2045-2322 31673021 2-s2.0-85074267116 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85074267116 open Animal physiology Ecophysiology artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2019 ftcsic https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 2024-05-29T00:06:20Z Echolocating toothed whales produce powerful clicks pneumatically to detect prey in the deep sea where this long-range sensory channel makes them formidable top predators. However, air supplies for sound production compress with depth following Boyle's law suggesting that deep-diving whales must use very small air volumes per echolocation click to facilitate continuous sensory flow in foraging dives. Here we test this hypothesis by analysing click-induced acoustic resonances in the nasal air sacs, recorded by biologging tags. Using 27000 clicks from 102 dives of 23 tagged pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), we show that click production requires only 50 µL of air/click at 500 m depth increasing gradually to 100 µL at 1000 m. With such small air volumes, the metabolic cost of sound production is on the order of 40 J per dive which is a negligible fraction of the field metabolic rate. Nonetheless, whales must make frequent pauses in echolocation to recycle air between nasal sacs. Thus, frugal use of air and periodic recycling of very limited air volumes enable pilot whales, and likely other toothed whales, to echolocate cheaply and almost continuously throughout foraging dives, providing them with a strong sensory advantage in diverse aquatic habitats. Analyses were aided by a Marie Curie-Sklowdowska Career Integration Grant and an Aarhus University Visiting Professorship to M.J. N.A.S was supported by a Ramón y Cajal post-doctoral fellowship. I.F was supported by the Bodossaki Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. P.T.M was funded by a large frame grant from the Danish research council. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper toothed whales Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) Scientific Reports 9 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) |
op_collection_id |
ftcsic |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal physiology Ecophysiology |
spellingShingle |
Animal physiology Ecophysiology Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
topic_facet |
Animal physiology Ecophysiology |
description |
Echolocating toothed whales produce powerful clicks pneumatically to detect prey in the deep sea where this long-range sensory channel makes them formidable top predators. However, air supplies for sound production compress with depth following Boyle's law suggesting that deep-diving whales must use very small air volumes per echolocation click to facilitate continuous sensory flow in foraging dives. Here we test this hypothesis by analysing click-induced acoustic resonances in the nasal air sacs, recorded by biologging tags. Using 27000 clicks from 102 dives of 23 tagged pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), we show that click production requires only 50 µL of air/click at 500 m depth increasing gradually to 100 µL at 1000 m. With such small air volumes, the metabolic cost of sound production is on the order of 40 J per dive which is a negligible fraction of the field metabolic rate. Nonetheless, whales must make frequent pauses in echolocation to recycle air between nasal sacs. Thus, frugal use of air and periodic recycling of very limited air volumes enable pilot whales, and likely other toothed whales, to echolocate cheaply and almost continuously throughout foraging dives, providing them with a strong sensory advantage in diverse aquatic habitats. Analyses were aided by a Marie Curie-Sklowdowska Career Integration Grant and an Aarhus University Visiting Professorship to M.J. N.A.S was supported by a Ramón y Cajal post-doctoral fellowship. I.F was supported by the Bodossaki Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. P.T.M was funded by a large frame grant from the Danish research council. Peer reviewed |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark |
author_facet |
Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark |
author_sort |
Foskolos, Ilias |
title |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_short |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_full |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_fullStr |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_sort |
deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µl of air |
publisher |
Springer Nature |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/346345 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85074267116 |
genre |
toothed whales |
genre_facet |
toothed whales |
op_relation |
Scientific reports Publisher's version https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 No Scientific Reports 9 : 15720 (2019) http://hdl.handle.net/10261/346345 doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 2045-2322 31673021 2-s2.0-85074267116 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85074267116 |
op_rights |
open |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1802650715868364800 |