Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance.
Many baleen whales undertake annual fasting and feeding cycles, resulting in substantial changes in their body condition, an important factor affecting fitness. As a measure of lipid-store body condition, tissue density of a few deep diving marine mammals has been estimated using a hydrodynamic glid...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2018-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0200287&type=printable |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850044519997767680 |
|---|---|
| author | Tomoko Narazaki Saana Isojunno Douglas P Nowacek Rene Swift Ari S Friedlaender Christian Ramp Sophie Smout Kagari Aoki Volker B Deecke Katsufumi Sato Patrick J O Miller |
| author_facet | Tomoko Narazaki Saana Isojunno Douglas P Nowacek Rene Swift Ari S Friedlaender Christian Ramp Sophie Smout Kagari Aoki Volker B Deecke Katsufumi Sato Patrick J O Miller |
| author_sort | Tomoko Narazaki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many baleen whales undertake annual fasting and feeding cycles, resulting in substantial changes in their body condition, an important factor affecting fitness. As a measure of lipid-store body condition, tissue density of a few deep diving marine mammals has been estimated using a hydrodynamic glide model of drag and buoyancy forces. Here, we applied the method to shallow-diving humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in North Atlantic and Antarctic feeding aggregations. High-resolution 3-axis acceleration, depth and speed data were collected from 24 whales. Measured values of acceleration during 5 s glides were fitted to a hydrodynamic glide model to estimate unknown parameters (tissue density, drag term and diving gas volume) in a Bayesian framework. Estimated species-average tissue density (1031.6 ± 2.1 kg m-3, ±95% credible interval) indicates that humpback whale tissue is typically negatively buoyant although there was a large inter-individual variation ranging from 1025.2 to 1043.1 kg m-3. The precision of the individual estimates was substantially finer than the variation across different individual whales, demonstrating a progressive decrease in tissue density throughout the feeding season and comparably high lipid-store in pregnant females. The drag term (CDAm-1) was estimated to be relatively high, indicating a large effect of lift-related induced drag for humpback whales. Our results show that tissue density of shallow diving baleen whales can be estimated using the hydrodynamic gliding model, although cross-validation with other techniques is an essential next step. This method for estimating body condition is likely to be broadly applicable across a range of aquatic animals and environments. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9ccab078354f443da2697ca15fd0ef93 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-9ccab078354f443da2697ca15fd0ef932025-08-20T02:54:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032018-01-01137e020028710.1371/journal.pone.0200287Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance.Tomoko NarazakiSaana IsojunnoDouglas P NowacekRene SwiftAri S FriedlaenderChristian RampSophie SmoutKagari AokiVolker B DeeckeKatsufumi SatoPatrick J O MillerMany baleen whales undertake annual fasting and feeding cycles, resulting in substantial changes in their body condition, an important factor affecting fitness. As a measure of lipid-store body condition, tissue density of a few deep diving marine mammals has been estimated using a hydrodynamic glide model of drag and buoyancy forces. Here, we applied the method to shallow-diving humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in North Atlantic and Antarctic feeding aggregations. High-resolution 3-axis acceleration, depth and speed data were collected from 24 whales. Measured values of acceleration during 5 s glides were fitted to a hydrodynamic glide model to estimate unknown parameters (tissue density, drag term and diving gas volume) in a Bayesian framework. Estimated species-average tissue density (1031.6 ± 2.1 kg m-3, ±95% credible interval) indicates that humpback whale tissue is typically negatively buoyant although there was a large inter-individual variation ranging from 1025.2 to 1043.1 kg m-3. The precision of the individual estimates was substantially finer than the variation across different individual whales, demonstrating a progressive decrease in tissue density throughout the feeding season and comparably high lipid-store in pregnant females. The drag term (CDAm-1) was estimated to be relatively high, indicating a large effect of lift-related induced drag for humpback whales. Our results show that tissue density of shallow diving baleen whales can be estimated using the hydrodynamic gliding model, although cross-validation with other techniques is an essential next step. This method for estimating body condition is likely to be broadly applicable across a range of aquatic animals and environments.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0200287&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Tomoko Narazaki Saana Isojunno Douglas P Nowacek Rene Swift Ari S Friedlaender Christian Ramp Sophie Smout Kagari Aoki Volker B Deecke Katsufumi Sato Patrick J O Miller Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance. PLoS ONE |
| title | Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance. |
| title_full | Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance. |
| title_fullStr | Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance. |
| title_short | Body density of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance. |
| title_sort | body density of humpback whales megaptera novaengliae in feeding aggregations estimated from hydrodynamic gliding performance |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0200287&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tomokonarazaki bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT saanaisojunno bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT douglaspnowacek bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT reneswift bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT arisfriedlaender bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT christianramp bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT sophiesmout bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT kagariaoki bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT volkerbdeecke bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT katsufumisato bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance AT patrickjomiller bodydensityofhumpbackwhalesmegapteranovaengliaeinfeedingaggregationsestimatedfromhydrodynamicglidingperformance |