Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air
Echolocating toothed whales produce powerful clicks pneumatically to detect prey in the deep sea where this long-range sensory channel makes them formidable top predators. However, air supplies for sound production compress with depth following Boyle’s law suggesting that deep-diving whales must use...
Published in: | Scientific Reports |
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2019
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Online Access: | https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/deepdiving-pilot-whales-make-cheap-but-powerful-echolocation-clicks-with-50-l-of-air(c360da9d-9b81-420a-9755-2c1395a0c213).html https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/18821/1/Foskolos_2019_SR_Deep_diving_CC.pdf |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/c360da9d-9b81-420a-9755-2c1395a0c213 2024-06-23T07:57:12+00:00 Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark 2019-10-31 application/pdf https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/deepdiving-pilot-whales-make-cheap-but-powerful-echolocation-clicks-with-50-l-of-air(c360da9d-9b81-420a-9755-2c1395a0c213).html https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/18821/1/Foskolos_2019_SR_Deep_diving_CC.pdf eng eng https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/deepdiving-pilot-whales-make-cheap-but-powerful-echolocation-clicks-with-50-l-of-air(c360da9d-9b81-420a-9755-2c1395a0c213).html info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Foskolos , I , Aguilar de Soto , N , Madsen , P T & Johnson , M 2019 , ' Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 9 , 15720 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 article 2019 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 2024-06-13T01:08:14Z Echolocating toothed whales produce powerful clicks pneumatically to detect prey in the deep sea where this long-range sensory channel makes them formidable top predators. However, air supplies for sound production compress with depth following Boyle’s law suggesting that deep-diving whales must use very small air volumes per echolocation click to facilitate continuous sensory flow in foraging dives. Here we test this hypothesis by analysing click-induced acoustic resonances in the nasal air sacs, recorded by biologging tags. Using 27000 clicks from 102 dives of 23 tagged pilot whales ( Globicephala macrorhynchus) , we show that click production requires only 50 µL of air/click at 500 m depth increasing gradually to 100 µL at 1000 m. With such small air volumes, the metabolic cost of sound production is on the order of 40 J per dive which is a negligible fraction of the field metabolic rate. Nonetheless, whales must make frequent pauses in echolocation to recycle air between nasal sacs. Thus, frugal use of air and periodic recycling of very limited air volumes enable pilot whales, and likely other toothed whales, to echolocate cheaply and almost continuously throughout foraging dives, providing them with a strong sensory advantage in diverse aquatic habitats. Article in Journal/Newspaper toothed whales University of St Andrews: Research Portal Scientific Reports 9 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
description |
Echolocating toothed whales produce powerful clicks pneumatically to detect prey in the deep sea where this long-range sensory channel makes them formidable top predators. However, air supplies for sound production compress with depth following Boyle’s law suggesting that deep-diving whales must use very small air volumes per echolocation click to facilitate continuous sensory flow in foraging dives. Here we test this hypothesis by analysing click-induced acoustic resonances in the nasal air sacs, recorded by biologging tags. Using 27000 clicks from 102 dives of 23 tagged pilot whales ( Globicephala macrorhynchus) , we show that click production requires only 50 µL of air/click at 500 m depth increasing gradually to 100 µL at 1000 m. With such small air volumes, the metabolic cost of sound production is on the order of 40 J per dive which is a negligible fraction of the field metabolic rate. Nonetheless, whales must make frequent pauses in echolocation to recycle air between nasal sacs. Thus, frugal use of air and periodic recycling of very limited air volumes enable pilot whales, and likely other toothed whales, to echolocate cheaply and almost continuously throughout foraging dives, providing them with a strong sensory advantage in diverse aquatic habitats. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark |
spellingShingle |
Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
author_facet |
Foskolos, Ilias Aguilar de Soto, Natacha Madsen, Peter Teglberg Johnson, Mark |
author_sort |
Foskolos, Ilias |
title |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_short |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_full |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_fullStr |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air |
title_sort |
deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µl of air |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/deepdiving-pilot-whales-make-cheap-but-powerful-echolocation-clicks-with-50-l-of-air(c360da9d-9b81-420a-9755-2c1395a0c213).html https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/18821/1/Foskolos_2019_SR_Deep_diving_CC.pdf |
genre |
toothed whales |
genre_facet |
toothed whales |
op_source |
Foskolos , I , Aguilar de Soto , N , Madsen , P T & Johnson , M 2019 , ' Deep-diving pilot whales make cheap, but powerful, echolocation clicks with 50 µL of air ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 9 , 15720 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 |
op_relation |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/deepdiving-pilot-whales-make-cheap-but-powerful-echolocation-clicks-with-50-l-of-air(c360da9d-9b81-420a-9755-2c1395a0c213).html |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51619-6 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1802650715674378240 |