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. The study was conducted from 16 June to 10 July in both 1999 and 2000 on the west coast of Prins Karls Forland (78°20’N, 11°30’E), the westernmost island of the Svalbard Ar...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2008
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npolardata:oai:npolar.no:dataset/205ed670-775c-5e47-9def-a58bd3bd2dc7 2024-03-03T22:15:37+00:00 Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups Kovacs, Kit M. Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole BEGINDATE: 1999-06-16 ENDDATE: 2000-07-10 ENVELOPE(11.16666667,11.16666667,78.55,78.55) OCEAN, ATLANTIC OCEAN, NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, SVALBARD AND JAN MAYEN, Prins Karls Forland GEOGRAPHIC REGION, ARCTIC GEOGRAPHIC REGION, POLAR 2008-07-09 http://data.npolar.no/dataset/205ed670-775c-5e47-9def-a58bd3bd2dc7 unknown Norwegian Polar Institute BIOTA biology EARTH SCIENCE BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES MAMMALS CARNIVORES SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES BIOSPHERE ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS Dataset 2008 npolardata 2017-09-07T07:14:17Z This study investigated physiological and behavioural aspects of diving development in pups of the harbour seal Phoca vitulina. The study was conducted from 16 June to 10 July in both 1999 and 2000 on the west coast of Prins Karls Forland (78°20’N, 11°30’E), the westernmost island of the Svalbard Archipelago. Behavioural data (4280 h, 6027 dives) from time/depth recorders (N=13, model Mk6, Wildlife Computers Inc.) 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 ± S.D.) 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. Dataset Arctic harbour seal Jan Mayen North Atlantic Phoca vitulina Prins Karls Forland Svalbard walrus* Norwegian Polar Data Centre Arctic Jan Mayen Prins Karls Forland ENVELOPE(11.175,11.175,78.543,78.543) Svalbard Svalbard ENVELOPE(20.000,20.000,78.000,78.000) Svalbard Archipelago ENVELOPE(11.16666667,11.16666667,78.55,78.55) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Norwegian Polar Data Centre |
op_collection_id |
npolardata |
language |
unknown |
topic |
BIOTA biology EARTH SCIENCE BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES MAMMALS CARNIVORES SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES BIOSPHERE ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS |
spellingShingle |
BIOTA biology EARTH SCIENCE BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES MAMMALS CARNIVORES SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES BIOSPHERE ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS Kovacs, Kit M. Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole Diving development in nursing harbour seal pups |
topic_facet |
BIOTA biology EARTH SCIENCE BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES MAMMALS CARNIVORES SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES BIOSPHERE ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS |
description |
This study investigated physiological and behavioural aspects of diving development in pups of the harbour seal Phoca vitulina. The study was conducted from 16 June to 10 July in both 1999 and 2000 on the west coast of Prins Karls Forland (78°20’N, 11°30’E), the westernmost island of the Svalbard Archipelago. Behavioural data (4280 h, 6027 dives) from time/depth recorders (N=13, model Mk6, Wildlife Computers Inc.) 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 ± S.D.) 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 |
Dataset |
author |
Kovacs, Kit M. Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole |
author_facet |
Kovacs, Kit M. Jørgensen, Christian Lydersen, Christian Brix, Ole |
author_sort |
Kovacs, Kit M. |
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 |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://data.npolar.no/dataset/205ed670-775c-5e47-9def-a58bd3bd2dc7 |
op_coverage |
BEGINDATE: 1999-06-16 ENDDATE: 2000-07-10 ENVELOPE(11.16666667,11.16666667,78.55,78.55) OCEAN, ATLANTIC OCEAN, NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, SVALBARD AND JAN MAYEN, Prins Karls Forland GEOGRAPHIC REGION, ARCTIC GEOGRAPHIC REGION, POLAR |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(11.175,11.175,78.543,78.543) ENVELOPE(20.000,20.000,78.000,78.000) ENVELOPE(11.16666667,11.16666667,78.55,78.55) |
geographic |
Arctic Jan Mayen Prins Karls Forland Svalbard Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Jan Mayen Prins Karls Forland Svalbard Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic harbour seal Jan Mayen North Atlantic Phoca vitulina Prins Karls Forland Svalbard walrus* |
genre_facet |
Arctic harbour seal Jan Mayen North Atlantic Phoca vitulina Prins Karls Forland Svalbard walrus* |
_version_ |
1792545072838868992 |