High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales
Large body size usually extends dive duration in air-breathing vertebrates. However, the two largest predators on earth, the blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and the fin whale ( B. physalus ), perform short dives for their size. Here, we test the hypothesis that the foraging behavior of these tw...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jexbio:205/12/1747 2023-05-15T15:36:23+02:00 High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales Acevedo-Gutiérrez, A. Croll, D. A. Tershy, B. R. 2002-06-15 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/205/12/1747 en eng Company of Biologists http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/205/12/1747 Copyright (C) 2002, Company of Biologists Research Article TEXT 2002 fthighwire 2015-02-28T12:44:08Z Large body size usually extends dive duration in air-breathing vertebrates. However, the two largest predators on earth, the blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and the fin whale ( B. physalus ), perform short dives for their size. Here, we test the hypothesis that the foraging behavior of these two species (lunge-feeding) is energetically expensive and limits their dive duration. We estimated the cost of lunge-feeding in both species using an approach that combined attaching time/depth recorders to seven blue whales and eight fin whales and comparing the collected dive information with predictions made by optimality models of dive behavior. We show that the rate at which whales recovered from a foraging dive was twice that of a non-foraging dive and that the cost of foraging relative to the cost of travel to and from the prey patch was 3.15 in blue whales (95 % CI 2.58-3.72) and 3.60 in fin whales (95 % CI 2.35-4.85). Whales foraged in small areas (<1 km2) and foraging bouts lasted more than one dive, indicating that prey did not disperse and thus that prey dispersal could not account for the limited dive durations of the whales. Despite the enormous size of blue whales and fin whales, the high energetic costs of lunge-feeding confine them to short durations of submergence and to areas with dense prey aggregations. As a corollary, because of their limited foraging time under water, these whales may be particularly vulnerable to perturbations in prey abundance. Text Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale Fin whale HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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Research Article Acevedo-Gutiérrez, A. Croll, D. A. Tershy, B. R. High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales |
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Research Article |
description |
Large body size usually extends dive duration in air-breathing vertebrates. However, the two largest predators on earth, the blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and the fin whale ( B. physalus ), perform short dives for their size. Here, we test the hypothesis that the foraging behavior of these two species (lunge-feeding) is energetically expensive and limits their dive duration. We estimated the cost of lunge-feeding in both species using an approach that combined attaching time/depth recorders to seven blue whales and eight fin whales and comparing the collected dive information with predictions made by optimality models of dive behavior. We show that the rate at which whales recovered from a foraging dive was twice that of a non-foraging dive and that the cost of foraging relative to the cost of travel to and from the prey patch was 3.15 in blue whales (95 % CI 2.58-3.72) and 3.60 in fin whales (95 % CI 2.35-4.85). Whales foraged in small areas (<1 km2) and foraging bouts lasted more than one dive, indicating that prey did not disperse and thus that prey dispersal could not account for the limited dive durations of the whales. Despite the enormous size of blue whales and fin whales, the high energetic costs of lunge-feeding confine them to short durations of submergence and to areas with dense prey aggregations. As a corollary, because of their limited foraging time under water, these whales may be particularly vulnerable to perturbations in prey abundance. |
format |
Text |
author |
Acevedo-Gutiérrez, A. Croll, D. A. Tershy, B. R. |
author_facet |
Acevedo-Gutiérrez, A. Croll, D. A. Tershy, B. R. |
author_sort |
Acevedo-Gutiérrez, A. |
title |
High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales |
title_short |
High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales |
title_full |
High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales |
title_fullStr |
High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
High feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales |
title_sort |
high feeding costs limit dive time in the largest whales |
publisher |
Company of Biologists |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/205/12/1747 |
genre |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale Fin whale |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale Fin whale |
op_relation |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/205/12/1747 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2002, Company of Biologists |
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1766366739671547904 |