Development of Body Oxygen Stores in Harbor Seals: Effects of Age, Mass, and Body Composition

Burns, Jennifer M.; Costa, Daniel P.; Frost, Kathryn J.; Harvey, James T.

doi:10.1086/432922

Cited by 78 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…A lower blubber thickness in ice seals has been shown to increase heat loss and as a result increase energetic costs associated with thermogenesis (Kvadsheim and Folkow, 1997). While a pup or an adult may be able to offset this deficiency by skeletal muscle thermogenesis from blubber stores and consistent feeding, juveniles are at a distinct disadvantage being relatively poor divers with lower blubber reserves (Burns et al, 2005;Burns et al, 2007;Clark et al, 2006;Clark et al, 2007;Noren et al, 2005;Weise and Costa, 2007). This relatively poor diving ability is reflected in both skeletal muscle physiology and mean dive durations of juvenile Weddell seals (Burns and Castellini, 1996;Kanatous et al, 2008).…”

Section: Lipids In Muscle As Energy Reserves In Juvenilesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-related differences in skeletal muscle lipid profiles of Weddell seals: clues to developmental changes

Trumble

Noren

Cornick

et al. 2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYOur objective was to elucidate age-related changes in lipids associated with skeletal muscle of Weddell seals and to suggest possible physiological implications. Muscle biopsies were collected from pups, juveniles and adults in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica and analyzed for intramuscular lipid (IML) and triacylglyceride (IMTG) amounts, fatty acid groups, as well as individual fatty acid profiles. The results from this study suggest a switch from primarily saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) in the skeletal muscle of young pups to increases in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) as the percentage of blubber increases, resulting in possible thermoregulatory benefits. As Weddell pups continue to develop into juveniles, fatty acids associated with the skeletal muscle changes such that MUFA levels are relatively higher, which may be in response to energy depletion associated with their restricted diving ability and rapid growth. As juveniles transform into adults, a reduction in n-3 PUFA levels in the muscle as the percentage of blubber increases may be indicative of a trigger to prepare for deep diving or could be a mechanism for oxygen conservation during long-duration dives. We speculate that the observed change in lipids associated with the skeletal muscle of Weddell seals is related to ontogenetic differences in thermoregulation and locomotion.

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Section: Lipids In Muscle As Energy Reserves In Juvenilesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-related differences in skeletal muscle lipid profiles of Weddell seals: clues to developmental changes

Trumble

Noren

Cornick

et al. 2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…The physiological features with regard to diving are well studied, and pups are known to have smaller massspecific oxygen stores than adults (Burns et al 2005(Burns et al , 2007. Additionally, pups have higher mass-specific resting metabolic rates (Rea & Costa 1992, Burns et al 2005 and poorer heart-rate control during diving than adults (Greaves et al 2004); these likely increase the costs of diving in pups and thus limit their diving capabilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, pups have higher mass-specific resting metabolic rates (Rea & Costa 1992, Burns et al 2005 and poorer heart-rate control during diving than adults (Greaves et al 2004); these likely increase the costs of diving in pups and thus limit their diving capabilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diving behavior and swimming style of nursing bearded seal pups

Watanabe¹,

Lydersen²,

Sato³

et al. 2009

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Seals are born on land or ice and must acquire the diving and swimming skills required to forage and avoid predators during their early lives. While diving behavior, including swim speed and swimming style (e.g. prolonged gliding and stroke-and-glide swimming), of adult seals is well documented, knowledge regarding the diving behavior of pups is still limited to records of dive depth and duration measured by simple time-depth recorders. In the present study, we attached multisensor data loggers to 6 bearded seal Erignathus barbatus pups weighing between 33 kg (newborn) and 104 kg (close to weaning). The mean swim speed and the mean distance covered by a stroke cycle was lowest (0.5 m s -1 and 0.3 m, respectively) in the smallest pup and highest (0.9 m s -1 and 0.6 m) in the largest pup. The largest pup showed substantial periods (17% of transit time) of prolonged gliding, as adult seals commonly do. However, the 3 medium-sized pups glided only during < 5% of the transit time, and the 2 smallest pups did not glide. Stroke-and-glide swimming was not observed in any pups. The stroke cycle frequency of the smallest pup was highly variable, while that of the largest pup was relatively stable. These results suggest that the swimming performance of the pups developed during the short nursing period.

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“…The oxygen storage capacity of an air-breathing marine predator can be closely related to body size, as the larger the individual, the more tissue (blood, muscle and lungs) available to store larger volumes of oxygen (Burns, 1999;Costa et al, 2004;Hassrick et al, 2013;Weise and Costa, 2007). Studies reporting positive relationships of oxygen storage capacity and body mass have typically approached ontogenetic physiological changes, as they have compared smaller, under-developed individuals such as pups and small juveniles with adult individuals (Burns, 1999;Burns et al, 2005;Fowler et al, 2007;Leung et al, 2014;Richmond et al, 2006;Weise and Costa, 2007). As hypothesized, larger South American sea lions had larger total body oxygen stores (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional variability in diving physiology and behavior in a widely distributed air-breathing marine predator, the South American sea lionOtaria byronia

Hückstädt

Tift

Riet-Sapriza

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Our understanding of how air-breathing marine predators cope with environmental variability is limited by our inadequate knowledge of their ecological and physiological parameters. Because of their wide distribution along both coasts of the sub-continent, South American sea lions (Otaria byronia) provide a valuable opportunity to study the behavioral and physiological plasticity of a marine predator in different environments. We measured the oxygen stores and diving behavior of South American sea lions throughout most of its range, allowing us to demonstrate that diving ability and behavior vary across its range. We found no significant differences in mass-specific blood volumes of sea lions among field sites and a negative relationship between massspecific oxygen storage and size, which suggests that exposure to different habitats and geographical locations better explains oxygen storage capacities and diving capability in South American sea lions than body size alone. The largest animals in our study (individuals from Uruguay) were the shallowest and shortest duration divers, and had the lowest mass-specific total body oxygen stores, while the deepest and longest duration divers (individuals from southern Chile) had significantly larger mass-specific oxygen stores, despite being much smaller animals. Our study suggests that the physiology of airbreathing diving predators is not fixed, but that it can be adjusted, to a certain extent, depending on the ecological setting and or habitat. These adjustments can be thought of as a 'training effect': as the animal continues to push its physiological capacity through greater hypoxic exposure, its breath-holding capacity increases.

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Development of Body Oxygen Stores in Harbor Seals: Effects of Age, Mass, and Body Composition

Cited by 78 publications

References 60 publications

Age-related differences in skeletal muscle lipid profiles of Weddell seals: clues to developmental changes

Age-related differences in skeletal muscle lipid profiles of Weddell seals: clues to developmental changes

Diving behavior and swimming style of nursing bearded seal pups

Regional variability in diving physiology and behavior in a widely distributed air-breathing marine predator, the South American sea lionOtaria byronia

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