Is diving cheaper? Estimating energy expenditure of odontocetes
Abstract
Population Consequences of Disturbance (PCoD) models largely utilize the bioenergetic response pathway where the assumption is thatdisturbance causes some kind of disruption in foraging behavior or increased costs to the animal and assess the longer-term consequences of reduced energy gains (e.g., lost food intake). Understanding the typical energetic expenditure of marine mammals is a critical part of these models because this energy requirements of any species is a critical component of understanding what these reductions mean in the larger context of vital rates and population dynamics.Existing estimates are currently coarse in resolution (e.g. energy expenditure over tag duration) and the aim of the current project is to break the metabolic costs down by activity state and dive type (e.g. surface, intermediate and deep). For this purpose , we build on established ONR-funded work, and utilize energy expenditure estimates from available gas dynamics modeling efforts of time-depth recordings. The outputs will be high resolution estimatesof energy expenditure based on different activities (and other biological factors if data allow). The project will focus on bottlenose dolphins exhibiting different dive strategies (surface and moderate diving in bottlenose dolphins and the deep-diving Cuvier#s beaked whales). These results will help improve our understanding of the key denominator in all bioenergetic models # which can help improve interpretation of BRS studies and advance PCoD and PCoMS models, where energy balance is the key currency.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 08, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412553
Entities
People
- Andreas Fahlman
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy