13: Development and Testing of a Datalogging Device for Physiological Measurements of Deep-diving Odontocetes

Solubility of nitrogen in marine mammal blubber depends on its lipid composition.

Understanding the solubility of nitrogen gas in tissues is a crucial aspect of diving physiology, especially for air-breathing tetrapods. Adipose tissue is of particular interest because of the high solubility of nitrogen in lipids. Surprisingly, nothing is known about nitrogen solubility in the blubber of any marine mammal. We tested the hypothesis that N(2) solubility is dependent on the lipi...

Development of Improved Satellite-Linked Transmitters, Physiological Recorders, and Attachment Techniques for Monitoring Beaked Whales

We aim to improve upon our existing tagging and tracking methods for odontocetes and to develop new telemetry technology and attachment techniques that will advance researchers’ abilities to understand the impacts of anthropogenic sound on odontocetes, especially beaked whales. Goal 1 is to improve upon our existing remotely-deployed satellite tag attachment technique to achieve longer monitori...

Nighttime foraging by deep diving echolocating odontocetes off the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Ni'ihau as determined by passive acoustic monitors.

Remote autonomous ecological acoustic recorders (EARs) were deployed in deep waters at five locations around the island of Kauai and one in waters off Ni'ihau in the main Hawaiian island chain. The EARs were moored to the bottom at depths between 400 and 800 m. The data acquisition sampling rate was 80 kHz and acoustic signals were recorded for 30 s every 5 min to conserve battery power and dis...

Prey Fields and Habitats of Deep Diving Odontocetes: 3D Characterization and Modeling of Beaked and Sperm Whale Foraging Areas in the Tongue of the Ocean

Swimming and diving energetics in dolphins: a stroke-by-stroke analysis for predicting the cost of flight responses in wild odontocetes.

Exponential increases in hydrodynamic drag and physical exertion occur when swimmers move quickly through water, and underlie the preference for relatively slow routine speeds by marine mammals regardless of body size. Because of this and the need to balance limited oxygen stores when submerged, flight (escape) responses may be especially challenging for this group. To examine this, we used ope...