Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals
Abstract The ability of marine mammals to accumulate sufficient lipid energy reserves is vital for mammals' survival and successful reproduction. However, long‐term monitoring of at‐sea changes in body condition, specifically lipid stores, has only been possible in elephant seals performing pro...
Published in: | Methods in Ecology and Evolution |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089 https://doaj.org/article/357478d6a37e408b9c2fcf00ff8f09d7 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:357478d6a37e408b9c2fcf00ff8f09d7 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:357478d6a37e408b9c2fcf00ff8f09d7 2023-08-27T04:09:15+02:00 Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals Taiki Adachi Philip Lovell James Turnbull Mike A. Fedak Baptiste Picard Christophe Guinet Martin Biuw Theresa R. Keates Rachel R. Holser Daniel P. Costa Daniel E. Crocker Patrick J. O. Miller 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089 https://doaj.org/article/357478d6a37e408b9c2fcf00ff8f09d7 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089 https://doaj.org/toc/2041-210X 2041-210X doi:10.1111/2041-210X.14089 https://doaj.org/article/357478d6a37e408b9c2fcf00ff8f09d7 Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 14, Iss 6, Pp 1457-1474 (2023) animal health bio‐logging body density buoyancy marine mammal real‐time monitoring Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089 2023-08-06T00:47:09Z Abstract The ability of marine mammals to accumulate sufficient lipid energy reserves is vital for mammals' survival and successful reproduction. However, long‐term monitoring of at‐sea changes in body condition, specifically lipid stores, has only been possible in elephant seals performing prolonged drift dives (low‐density lipids alter the rates of depth change while drifting). This approach has limited applicability to other species. Using hydrodynamic performance analysis during transit glides, we developed and validated a novel satellite‐linked data logger that calculates real‐time changes in body density (∝lipid stores). As gliding is ubiquitous amongst divers, the system can assess body condition in a broad array of diving animals. The tag processes high sampling rate depth and three‐axis acceleration data to identify 5 s high pitch angle glide segments at depths >100 m. Body density is estimated for each glide using gliding speed and pitch to quantify drag versus buoyancy forces acting on the gliding animal. We used tag data from 24 elephant seals (Mirounga spp.) to validate the onboard calculation of body density relative to drift rate. The new tags relayed body density estimates over 200 days and documented lipid store accumulation during migration with good correspondence between changes in body density and drift rate. Our study provided updated drag coefficient values for gliding (Cd,f = 0.03) and drifting (Cd,s = 0.12) elephant seals, both substantially lower than previous estimates. We also demonstrated post‐hoc estimation of the gliding drag coefficient and body density using transmitted data, which is especially useful when drag parameters cannot be estimated with sufficient accuracy before tag deployment. Our method has the potential to advance the field of marine biology by switching the research paradigm from indirectly inferring animal body condition from foraging effort to directly measuring changes in body condition relative to foraging effort, habitat, ecological factors and ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seals Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Methods in Ecology and Evolution 14 6 1457 1474 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
animal health bio‐logging body density buoyancy marine mammal real‐time monitoring Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 |
spellingShingle |
animal health bio‐logging body density buoyancy marine mammal real‐time monitoring Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 Taiki Adachi Philip Lovell James Turnbull Mike A. Fedak Baptiste Picard Christophe Guinet Martin Biuw Theresa R. Keates Rachel R. Holser Daniel P. Costa Daniel E. Crocker Patrick J. O. Miller Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals |
topic_facet |
animal health bio‐logging body density buoyancy marine mammal real‐time monitoring Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 |
description |
Abstract The ability of marine mammals to accumulate sufficient lipid energy reserves is vital for mammals' survival and successful reproduction. However, long‐term monitoring of at‐sea changes in body condition, specifically lipid stores, has only been possible in elephant seals performing prolonged drift dives (low‐density lipids alter the rates of depth change while drifting). This approach has limited applicability to other species. Using hydrodynamic performance analysis during transit glides, we developed and validated a novel satellite‐linked data logger that calculates real‐time changes in body density (∝lipid stores). As gliding is ubiquitous amongst divers, the system can assess body condition in a broad array of diving animals. The tag processes high sampling rate depth and three‐axis acceleration data to identify 5 s high pitch angle glide segments at depths >100 m. Body density is estimated for each glide using gliding speed and pitch to quantify drag versus buoyancy forces acting on the gliding animal. We used tag data from 24 elephant seals (Mirounga spp.) to validate the onboard calculation of body density relative to drift rate. The new tags relayed body density estimates over 200 days and documented lipid store accumulation during migration with good correspondence between changes in body density and drift rate. Our study provided updated drag coefficient values for gliding (Cd,f = 0.03) and drifting (Cd,s = 0.12) elephant seals, both substantially lower than previous estimates. We also demonstrated post‐hoc estimation of the gliding drag coefficient and body density using transmitted data, which is especially useful when drag parameters cannot be estimated with sufficient accuracy before tag deployment. Our method has the potential to advance the field of marine biology by switching the research paradigm from indirectly inferring animal body condition from foraging effort to directly measuring changes in body condition relative to foraging effort, habitat, ecological factors and ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Taiki Adachi Philip Lovell James Turnbull Mike A. Fedak Baptiste Picard Christophe Guinet Martin Biuw Theresa R. Keates Rachel R. Holser Daniel P. Costa Daniel E. Crocker Patrick J. O. Miller |
author_facet |
Taiki Adachi Philip Lovell James Turnbull Mike A. Fedak Baptiste Picard Christophe Guinet Martin Biuw Theresa R. Keates Rachel R. Holser Daniel P. Costa Daniel E. Crocker Patrick J. O. Miller |
author_sort |
Taiki Adachi |
title |
Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals |
title_short |
Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals |
title_full |
Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals |
title_fullStr |
Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Body condition changes at sea: Onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals |
title_sort |
body condition changes at sea: onboard calculation and telemetry of body density in diving animals |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089 https://doaj.org/article/357478d6a37e408b9c2fcf00ff8f09d7 |
genre |
Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals |
op_source |
Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 14, Iss 6, Pp 1457-1474 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089 https://doaj.org/toc/2041-210X 2041-210X doi:10.1111/2041-210X.14089 https://doaj.org/article/357478d6a37e408b9c2fcf00ff8f09d7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14089 |
container_title |
Methods in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1457 |
op_container_end_page |
1474 |
_version_ |
1775350422753509376 |