Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter
Warm-blooded diving animals wintering in polar regions are expected to show a high degree of morphological adaptation allowing efficient thermal insulation. In stark contrast to other marine mammals and seabirds living at high latitudes, Arctic great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo have very limited...
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Online Access: | http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/208/22/4231 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01884 |
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jexbio:208/22/4231 2023-05-15T14:50:07+02:00 Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter Grémillet, David Kuntz, Grégoire Woakes, Anthony J. Gilbert, Caroline Robin, Jean-Patrice Le Maho, Yvon Butler, Patrick J. 2005-11-15 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/208/22/4231 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01884 en eng Company of Biologists http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/208/22/4231 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01884 Copyright (C) 2005, Company of Biologists Research Article TEXT 2005 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01884 2013-04-02T07:21:47Z Warm-blooded diving animals wintering in polar regions are expected to show a high degree of morphological adaptation allowing efficient thermal insulation. In stark contrast to other marine mammals and seabirds living at high latitudes, Arctic great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo have very limited thermal insulation because of their partly permeable plumage. They nonetheless winter in Greenland, where they are exposed to very low air and water temperatures. To understand how poorly insulated diving endotherms survive the Arctic winter, we performed year-round recordings of heart rate, dive depth and abdominal temperature in male great cormorants using miniature data loggers. We also examined the body composition of individuals in the spring. Abdominal temperatures and heart rates of birds resting on land and diving showed substantial variability. However, neither hypothermia nor significantly lower heart rate levels were recorded during the winter months. Thus our data show no indication of general metabolic depression in great cormorants wintering in Greenland. Furthermore, great cormorants did not reduce their daily swimming time during the coldest months of the year to save energy; they continued to forage in sub-zero waters for over an hour every day. As birds spent extended periods in cold water and showed no signs of metabolic depression during the Arctic winter, their theoretical energy requirements were substantial. Using our field data and a published algorithm we estimated the daily food requirement of great cormorants wintering in Greenland to be 1170±110 g day-1. This is twice the estimated food requirement of great cormorants wintering in Europe. Great cormorants survive the Arctic winter but we also show that they come close to starvation during the spring, with body reserves sufficient to fast for less than 3 days. Lack of body fuels was associated with drastically reduced body temperatures and heart rates in April and May. Concurrent, intense feeding activity probably allowed birds to restore ... Text Arctic Greenland HighWire Press (Stanford University) Arctic Greenland Journal of Experimental Biology 208 22 4231 4241 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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English |
topic |
Research Article |
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Research Article Grémillet, David Kuntz, Grégoire Woakes, Anthony J. Gilbert, Caroline Robin, Jean-Patrice Le Maho, Yvon Butler, Patrick J. Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Warm-blooded diving animals wintering in polar regions are expected to show a high degree of morphological adaptation allowing efficient thermal insulation. In stark contrast to other marine mammals and seabirds living at high latitudes, Arctic great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo have very limited thermal insulation because of their partly permeable plumage. They nonetheless winter in Greenland, where they are exposed to very low air and water temperatures. To understand how poorly insulated diving endotherms survive the Arctic winter, we performed year-round recordings of heart rate, dive depth and abdominal temperature in male great cormorants using miniature data loggers. We also examined the body composition of individuals in the spring. Abdominal temperatures and heart rates of birds resting on land and diving showed substantial variability. However, neither hypothermia nor significantly lower heart rate levels were recorded during the winter months. Thus our data show no indication of general metabolic depression in great cormorants wintering in Greenland. Furthermore, great cormorants did not reduce their daily swimming time during the coldest months of the year to save energy; they continued to forage in sub-zero waters for over an hour every day. As birds spent extended periods in cold water and showed no signs of metabolic depression during the Arctic winter, their theoretical energy requirements were substantial. Using our field data and a published algorithm we estimated the daily food requirement of great cormorants wintering in Greenland to be 1170±110 g day-1. This is twice the estimated food requirement of great cormorants wintering in Europe. Great cormorants survive the Arctic winter but we also show that they come close to starvation during the spring, with body reserves sufficient to fast for less than 3 days. Lack of body fuels was associated with drastically reduced body temperatures and heart rates in April and May. Concurrent, intense feeding activity probably allowed birds to restore ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Grémillet, David Kuntz, Grégoire Woakes, Anthony J. Gilbert, Caroline Robin, Jean-Patrice Le Maho, Yvon Butler, Patrick J. |
author_facet |
Grémillet, David Kuntz, Grégoire Woakes, Anthony J. Gilbert, Caroline Robin, Jean-Patrice Le Maho, Yvon Butler, Patrick J. |
author_sort |
Grémillet, David |
title |
Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter |
title_short |
Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter |
title_full |
Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter |
title_fullStr |
Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter |
title_full_unstemmed |
Year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the Arctic winter |
title_sort |
year-round recordings of behavioural and physiological parameters reveal the survival strategy of a poorly insulated diving endotherm during the arctic winter |
publisher |
Company of Biologists |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/208/22/4231 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01884 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
op_relation |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/208/22/4231 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01884 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2005, Company of Biologists |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01884 |
container_title |
Journal of Experimental Biology |
container_volume |
208 |
container_issue |
22 |
container_start_page |
4231 |
op_container_end_page |
4241 |
_version_ |
1766321192796422144 |