scholarly journals Activity-specific metabolic rates for diving, transiting, and resting at sea can be estimated from time-activity budgets in free-ranging marine mammals

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 2969-2976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiphaine Jeanniard-du-Dot ◽  
Andrew W. Trites ◽  
John P. Y. Arnould ◽  
John R. Speakman ◽  
Christophe Guinet
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Activity Budgets ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
Free Ranging

scholarly journals Accelerometers can measure total and activity‐specific energy expenditures in free‐ranging marine mammals only if linked to time‐activity budgets

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiphaine Jeanniard‐du‐Dot ◽  
Christophe Guinet ◽  
John P.Y. Arnould ◽  
John R. Speakman ◽  
Andrew W. Trites
Keyword(s):  
Specific Energy ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Activity Budgets ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
Energy Expenditures ◽  
Free Ranging

Thyroid hormone concentrations in captive and free-ranging West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus)

2000 ◽  
Vol 203 (23) ◽  
pp. 3631-3637 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.M. Ortiz ◽  
D.S. MacKenzie ◽  
G.A. Worthy
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Hormone ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
West Indian ◽  
Water Salinity ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Trichechus Manatus ◽  
Total Thyroxine ◽  
Free Ranging

Because thyroid hormones play a critical role in the regulation of metabolism, the low metabolic rates reported for manatees suggest that thyroid hormone concentrations in these animals may also be reduced. However, thyroid hormone concentrations have yet to be examined in manatees. The effects of captivity, diet and water salinity on plasma total triiodothyronine (tT(3)), total thyroxine (tT(4)) and free thyroxine (fT(4)) concentrations were assessed in adult West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus). Free-ranging manatees exhibited significantly greater tT(4) and fT(4) concentrations than captive adults, regardless of diet, indicating that some aspect of a captive existence results in reduced T(4) concentrations. To determine whether this reduction might be related to feeding, captive adults fed on a mixed vegetable diet were switched to a strictly sea grass diet, resulting in decreased food consumption and a decrease in body mass. However, tT(4) and fT(4) concentrations were significantly elevated over initial values for 19 days. This may indicate that during periods of reduced food consumption manatees activate thyroid-hormone-promoted lipolysis to meet water and energetic requirements. Alterations in water salinity for captive animals did not induce significant changes in thyroid hormone concentrations. In spite of lower metabolic rates, thyroid hormone concentrations in captive manatees were comparable with those for other terrestrial and marine mammals, suggesting that the low metabolic rate in manatees is not attributable to reduced circulating thyroid hormone concentrations.

scholarly journals Subsurface swimming and stationary diving are metabolically cheap in adult Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Borque-Espinosa ◽  
Karyn D. Rode ◽  
Diana Ferrero-Fernández ◽  
Anabel Forte ◽  
Romana Capaccioni-Azzati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Benthic Habitat ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Energetic Costs ◽  
Odobenus Rosmarus Divergens ◽  
Odobenus Rosmarus ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
The Impact

Walruses rely on sea-ice to efficiently forage and rest between diving bouts while maintaining proximity to prime foraging habitat. Recent declines in summer sea ice have resulted in walruses hauling out on land where they have to travel farther to access productive benthic habitat while potentially increasing energetic costs. Despite the need to better understand the impact of sea ice loss on energy expenditure, knowledge about metabolic demands of specific behaviours in walruses is scarce. In the present study, 3 adult female Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) participated in flow-through respirometry trials to measure metabolic rates while floating inactive at the water surface during a minimum of 5 min, during a 180-second stationary dive, and while swimming horizontally underwater for ∼90 m. Metabolic rates during stationary dives (3.82±0.56 l O2 min−1) were lower than those measured at the water surface (4.64±1.04 l O2 min−1), which did not differ from rates measured during subsurface swimming (4.91±0.77 l O2 min−1). Thus, neither stationary diving nor subsurface swimming resulted in metabolic rates above those exhibited by walruses at the water surface. These results suggest that walruses minimize their energetic investment during underwater behaviours as reported for other marine mammals. Although environmental factors experienced by free-ranging walruses (e.g., winds or currents) likely affect metabolic rates, our results provide important information for understanding how behavioural changes affect energetic costs and can be used to improve bioenergetics models aimed at predicting the metabolic consequences of climate change on walruses.

Vitamin A physiology in the precocious harbour seal (Phoca vitulina): a tissue-based biomarker approach

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (9) ◽  
pp. 1511-1519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizzy Mos ◽  
Peter S Ross
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin A ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Phoca Vitulina ◽  
Retinyl Palmitate ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Reproductive Endocrine ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Free Ranging

Vitamin A is a nutrient essential to all mammals for growth and development, as well as for the maintenance of reproductive, endocrine, and immune systems. Environmental contaminant-related disruption of vitamin A has been observed in many wildlife species and can therefore be used as a biomarker of toxic effects. However, the natural processes regulating vitamin A uptake, storage, and distribution among compartments are poorly understood in marine mammals. In this study, 20 young healthy harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were captured to establish a compartment-based model providing a foundation for a mechanistic understanding of vitamin A physiology and disruption. Vitamin A (retinol, retinyl palmitate, and (or) retinoic acid) was quantified in blood plasma and in biopsy samples of liver, blubber, and skin. Although the highest concentrations of vitamin A were found in liver, blubber represents a more important storage depot, with an estimated 66% of the total retinoid content of the compartments measured. We suggest that vitamin A physiology in the precocious harbour seal has evolved to deal with high vitamin A availability during a short nursing period and to sustain growth during the postweaning fast. Positive correlations in vitamin A concentrations among liver, blubber, and skin support the use of less invasive biopsy sampling of just blubber or skin, which can provide physiologically relevant information in biomarker studies of free-ranging marine mammals.

scholarly journals Fatal Streptococcus iniae Infection in a Juvenile Free-Ranging Short-Beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis)

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3123
Author(s):  
Rebecca Souter ◽  
Anne-Lise Chaber ◽  
Ken Lee ◽  
Aaron Machado ◽  
Jia Lam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Skin Lesions ◽  
Streptococcus Iniae ◽  
Common Dolphin ◽  
Farmed Fish ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
Zoonotic Pathogen ◽  
Delphinus Delphis ◽  
Source Of Infection ◽  
Free Ranging

Streptococcus iniae (S. iniae) is a significant aquatic pathogen of farmed fish species, important zoonotic pathogen, and reported cause of disease in captive Amazon River dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) and a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Here we report S. iniae as the cause of subcutaneous abscesses, sepsis and mortality in a juvenile free-ranging short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) found deceased on a metropolitan Australian beach. Body surfaces were covered by multifocal, depressed, deep, irregular cutaneous ulcerations, which microscopically were characterised by ruptured subcutaneous abscesses with intralesional cocci. Routine microbiological investigations revealed a heavy growth of beta-haemolytic Streptococcus sp. identified as Streptococcus iniae in skin lesions as well as from heart blood, the latter supportive of sepsis. Tissues were negative for cetacean morbillivirus and no other disease processes were identified. S. iniae has not been reported in free-ranging marine mammals, nor in Australian delphinids, previously. More notably a pathogen of captive animals, this case report identifies S. iniae as a pathogen of wild dolphins also. In addition to expanding the host reservoir of a significant zoonotic pathogen, determining the source of infection as well as possible consequences for other marine mammals and wild and intensive fish stocks warrants further investigations.

Variation in Energy Expenditure among Black‐Legged Kittiwakes: Effects of Activity‐Specific Metabolic Rates and Activity Budgets

2003 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. R. Jodice ◽  
D. D. Roby ◽  
R. M. Suryan ◽  
D. B. Irons ◽  
A. M. Kaufman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Activity Budgets

Winter Time-Activity Budgets of Diving Ducks on Eastern Texas Reservoirs

Waterbirds ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 548-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun L. Crook ◽  
Warren C. Conway ◽  
Corey D. Mason ◽  
Kevin J. Kraai
Keyword(s):  
Activity Budgets ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
Diving Ducks ◽  
Winter Time

scholarly journals Time-activity budgets of stiff-tailed ducks in Puerto Rico

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. e00676
Author(s):  
Nickolas S. Goodman ◽  
Jack C. Eitniear ◽  
James T. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Activity Budgets ◽  
Time Activity
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