Advances in thermal physiology of diving marine mammals: The dual role of peripheral perfusion ...
The ability to maintain a high core body temperature is a defining characteristic of all mammals, yet their diverse habitats present disparate thermal challenges that have led to specialized adaptations. Marine mammals inhabit a highly conductive environment. Their thermoregulatory capabilities far...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
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Dryad
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.7291/d1m09m https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.7291/D1M09M |
| Summary: | The ability to maintain a high core body temperature is a defining characteristic of all mammals, yet their diverse habitats present disparate thermal challenges that have led to specialized adaptations. Marine mammals inhabit a highly conductive environment. Their thermoregulatory capabilities far exceed our own despite having limited avenues of heat transfer. Additionally, marine mammals must balance their thermoregulatory demands with those associated with diving (i.e., oxygen conservation), both of which rely on cardiovascular adjustments. This review presents the progress and novel efforts in investigating marine mammal thermoregulation, with a particular focus on the role of peripheral perfusion. Early studies in marine mammal thermal physiology were primarily performed in the laboratory and provided foundational knowledge through in vivo experiments and ex vivo measurements. However, the ecological relevance of these findings remains unknown because comparable efforts on free-ranging animals have been ... : As one of the deepest diving pinnipeds, northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) are an ideal model species to study the thermal physiology of diving marine mammals. Translocating juvenile elephant seals from Año Nuevo State Park (San Mateo County, CA) has proven valuable for short at-sea studies using physiological biologgers that must be recovered (Oliver et al. 1998). Año Nuevo is ideally situated north of Monterey Bay, where the bathymetry allows for deep dives, similar to the average dives of adults (e.g., Costa et al. 2002, Maresh et al. 2014). Juvenile elephant seals (1-2 years old) were sedated following standard protocols (Le Boeuf et al. 2000), instrumented, and transported to Monterey where they were released into the bay. The instruments were recovered to access the data stored onboard once the seals returned to land generally within 1 week. In addition to a satellite tag and VHF transmitter to facilitate tracking and relocating the seal upon its return, the seals were equipped with two ... |
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