Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups
This study investigated physiological and behavioural aspects of diving development in pups of the harbour seal Phoca vitulina . Behavioural data (4280 h, 6027 dives) from time/depth recorders ( N =13) deployed on pups aged 0–19 days are presented concomitantly with physiological measurements ( N =8...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jexbio:204/22/3993 2023-05-15T16:33:36+02:00 Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole Kovacs, Kit M. 2001-11-15 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/204/22/3993 en eng Company of Biologists http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/204/22/3993 Copyright (C) 2001, Company of Biologists Research Articles TEXT 2001 fthighwire 2013-05-27T04:29:38Z This study investigated physiological and behavioural aspects of diving development in pups of the harbour seal Phoca vitulina . Behavioural data (4280 h, 6027 dives) from time/depth recorders ( N =13) deployed on pups aged 0–19 days are presented concomitantly with physiological measurements ( N =8, sampled both early and late in the nursing period) of blood oxygen stores and body composition. Pups grew from 12.6±1.8 kg (mean age 2 days, total body fat 16±4 %) to 22.2±2.5 kg (mean age 16 days, total body fat 35±5 %; means ± <scp>s.d</scp>.) over the duration of the experiment. Pups less than 5 days of age had an elevated haematocrit and reduced plasma volume compared with older pups. Although plasma volume and blood volume increased, mass-specific blood oxygen stores (total haemoglobin) fell during the study period. Simultaneously, the following behavioural indicators of diving ability increased: the proportion of time spent in the water, dive depth, dive duration, bottom time and maximum daily swimming velocity. In addition, the proportion of dives that were identified by cluster analyses as being U-shaped increased significantly with age. On the basis of the measured blood oxygen stores, less than 1 % of the recorded dives exceeded the calculated aerobic dive limit. Thus, development in blood oxygen stores or rates of oxygen consumption did not seem to restrain the rate of neonatal dive development in harbour seals. It appears that behavioural modifications (experience and learning) may be the primary rate-limiting factors for ontogeny of diving skills in neonates of this species. Text harbour seal Phoca vitulina HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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Research Articles Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole Kovacs, Kit M. Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
topic_facet |
Research Articles |
description |
This study investigated physiological and behavioural aspects of diving development in pups of the harbour seal Phoca vitulina . Behavioural data (4280 h, 6027 dives) from time/depth recorders ( N =13) deployed on pups aged 0–19 days are presented concomitantly with physiological measurements ( N =8, sampled both early and late in the nursing period) of blood oxygen stores and body composition. Pups grew from 12.6±1.8 kg (mean age 2 days, total body fat 16±4 %) to 22.2±2.5 kg (mean age 16 days, total body fat 35±5 %; means ± <scp>s.d</scp>.) over the duration of the experiment. Pups less than 5 days of age had an elevated haematocrit and reduced plasma volume compared with older pups. Although plasma volume and blood volume increased, mass-specific blood oxygen stores (total haemoglobin) fell during the study period. Simultaneously, the following behavioural indicators of diving ability increased: the proportion of time spent in the water, dive depth, dive duration, bottom time and maximum daily swimming velocity. In addition, the proportion of dives that were identified by cluster analyses as being U-shaped increased significantly with age. On the basis of the measured blood oxygen stores, less than 1 % of the recorded dives exceeded the calculated aerobic dive limit. Thus, development in blood oxygen stores or rates of oxygen consumption did not seem to restrain the rate of neonatal dive development in harbour seals. It appears that behavioural modifications (experience and learning) may be the primary rate-limiting factors for ontogeny of diving skills in neonates of this species. |
format |
Text |
author |
Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole Kovacs, Kit M. |
author_facet |
Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole Kovacs, Kit M. |
author_sort |
Jørgensen, Christian |
title |
Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
title_short |
Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
title_full |
Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
title_fullStr |
Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
title_sort |
diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
publisher |
Company of Biologists |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/204/22/3993 |
genre |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
op_relation |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/204/22/3993 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2001, Company of Biologists |
_version_ |
1766023287725359104 |