Field energetics and lung function in wild bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in Sarasota Bay Florida

Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey

The giant rorqual whales are believed to have a massive food turnover driven by a high-intake lunge feeding style aptly described as the world's largest biomechanical action. This high-drag feeding behavior is thought to limit dive times and constrain rorquals to target only the densest prey patches, making them vulnerable to disturbance and habitat change. Using biologging tags to estimate energy expenditure as a function of feeding rates on 23 humpback whales, we show that lunge feeding is energetically cheap. Such inexpensive foraging means that rorquals are flexible in the quality of prey patches they exploit and therefore more resilient to environmental fluctuations and disturbance. As a consequence, the food turnover and hence the ecological role of these marine giants have likely been overestimated.

Non-invasive measurements of respiration and heart rate across wildlife species using Eulerian Video Magnification of infrared thermal imagery

BACKGROUND

An animal's metabolic rate, or energetic expenditure, both impacts and is impacted by interactions with its environment. However, techniques for obtaining measurements of metabolic rate are invasive, logistically difficult, and costly. Red-green-blue (RGB) imaging tools have been used in humans and select domestic mammals to accurately measure heart and respiration rate, as proxies of metabolic rate. The purpose of this study was to investigate if infrared thermography (IRT) coupled with Eulerian video magnification (EVM) would extend the applicability of imaging tools towards measuring vital rates in exotic wildlife species with different physical attributes.

RESULTS

We collected IRT and RGB video of 52 total species (39 mammalian, 7 avian, 6 reptilian) from 36 taxonomic families at zoological institutions and used EVM to amplify subtle changes in temperature associated with blood flow for respiration and heart rate measurements. IRT-derived respiration and heart rates were compared to 'true' measurements determined simultaneously by expansion of the ribcage/nostrils and stethoscope readings, respectively. Sufficient temporal signals were extracted for measures of respiration rate in 36 species (85% success in mammals; 50% success in birds; 100% success in reptiles) and heart rate in 24 species (67% success in mammals; 33% success in birds; 0% success in reptiles) using IRT-EVM. Infrared-derived measurements were obtained with high accuracy (respiration rate, mean absolute error: 1.9 breaths per minute, average percent error: 4.4%; heart rate, mean absolute error: 2.6 beats per minute, average percent error: 1.3%). Thick integument and animal movement most significantly hindered successful validation.

CONCLUSION

The combination of IRT with EVM analysis provides a non-invasive method to assess individual animal health in zoos, with great potential to monitor wildlife metabolic indices in situ.

Two Decades of Coastal Dolphin Population Surveys in Israel, Eastern Mediterranean

Along the Mediterranean coast of Israel, two near-shore dolphin species are prevalent; Tursiops truncatus (least concern, IUCN) and Delphinus delphis (endangered, IUCN). Ship-board surveys and sporadic sightings over the last two decades have shown that the two differ in distribution-T. truncatus is found along the entire coast and D. delphis only in the south. The environmental and anthropological factors affecting these species' spatial distribution and determining their habitat preferences in this area are largely unknown. This work is a first attempt at summarizing 20 years of observations and studying habitat preferences for both species, by use of Generalized Additive Models. T. truncatus was found to be present in all areas of the continental shelf where survey effort coverage was sufficient, with a high affinity towards bottom trawlers. Model results showed D. delphis distribution to be associated to (shallow) water depths, though the factors driving their limited latitudinal distribution currently remain unknown. It is evident that T. truncatus and D. delphis are present in segregated areas of the Israeli continental shelf and T. truncatus currently sustains a delicate balance with continuously shifting human activities, while the drivers of D. delphis distribution are more specified, yet still not fully understood.

Dynamic body acceleration as a proxy to predict the cost of locomotion in bottlenose dolphins

Estimates of the energetic costs of locomotion (COL) at different activity levels are necessary to answer fundamental eco-physiological questions and to understand the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance to marine mammals. We combined estimates of energetic costs derived from breath-by-breath respirometry with measurements of overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) from biologging tags to validate ODBA as a proxy for COL in trained common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). We measured resting metabolic rate (RMR); mean individual RMR was 0.71-1.42 times that of a similarly sized terrestrial mammal and agreed with past measurements which used breath-by-breath and flow-through respirometry. We also measured energy expenditure during submerged swim trials, at primarily moderate exercise levels. We subtracted RMR to obtain COL, and normalized COL by body size to incorporate individual swimming efficiencies. We found both mass-specific energy expenditure and mass-specific COL were linearly related with ODBA. Measurements of activity level and cost of transport (the energy required to move a given distance) improve understanding of the costs of locomotion in marine mammals. The strength of the correlation between ODBA and COL varied among individuals, but the overall relationship can be used at a broad scale to estimate the energetic costs of disturbance, daily locomotion costs to build energy budgets, and investigate the costs of diving in free-ranging animals where bio-logging data are available. We propose that a similar approach could be applied to other cetacean species.

Total energy expenditure of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) of different ages

Marine mammals are thought to have an energetically expensive lifestyle because endothermy is costly in marine environments. However, measurements of total energy expenditure (TEE; kcal day-1) are available only for a limited number of marine mammals, because large body size and inaccessible habitats make TEE measurements expensive and difficult to obtain for many taxa. We measured TEE in 10 adult common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) living in natural seawater lagoons at two facilities (Dolphin Research Center and Dolphin Quest) using the doubly labeled water method. We assessed the relative effects of body mass, age and physical activity on TEE. We also examined whether TEE of bottlenose dolphins, and more generally of marine mammals, differs from that expected for their body mass compared with other eutherian mammals, using phylogenetic least squares (PGLS) regressions. There were no differences in body mass or TEE (unadjusted TEE and TEE adjusted for fat-free mass) between dolphins from the two facilities. Our results show that adjusted TEE decreased and fat mass increased with age. Different measures of activity were not related to age, body fat or adjusted TEE. Both PGLS and the non-phylogenetic linear regression indicate that marine mammals have an elevated TEE compared with that of terrestrial mammals. However, bottlenose dolphins expended 17.1% less energy than other marine mammals of similar body mass. The two oldest dolphins (>40 years) showed a lower TEE, similar to the decline in TEE seen in older humans. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show an age-related metabolic decline in a large non-human mammal.

RESPIRATORY CHANGES IN STRANDED BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS (TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS)

Lung function (breath duration, respiratory flow [V̇], and tidal volume [V_T]), and end-expiratory O₂ were measured in 19 adult bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) while at rest in water or beached for up to 10 min. The results show that inspiratory V_T, expiratory V_T, or inspiratory V̇ did not differ on land or in water. The average expiratory V̇ for all dolphins on land decreased by 16%, and the expiratory and total breath durations increased by 5% and 4%, respectively, compared with in water. There were temporal changes observed during beaching, where expired and inspired V_T and inspired V̇ decreased by 13%, 16%, and 9%, respectively, after 10 min on land. These data suggest that dolphins compensate for the effect of gravity by adjusting respiration to maintain alveolar ventilation and gas exchange, but during extended durations, the increased work of breathing may impede ventilation and gas exchange. Continuous monitoring of lung function and gas exchange may help prevent long-term damage during out-of-water medical procedures, optimize animal transport conditions, and improve survival during stranding events.

Rapid weight loss in free ranging pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) and the implications for anthropogenic disturbance of odontocetes

Understanding the impacts of foraging disruptions to odontocete body condition is fundamental to quantifying biological effects of human disturbance and environmental changes on cetacean populations. Here, reductions in body volume of free-ranging pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) were calculated using repeated measurements of the same individuals obtained through Unoccupied Aerial System (UAS)-photogrammetry during a prolonged disruption in foraging activity arising from a 21-day stranding event. Stranded individuals were used to verify UAS-derived volume and length estimates through 3D-imaging, water displacement, and post-mortem measurements. We show that (a) UAS estimates of length were within 1.5% of actual body length and UAS volume estimates were within 10-13% of actual volume, (b) foraging disruption resulted in a daily decrease of 2% of total body mass/day, and (c) pygmy killer whales can lose up to 27% of their total body weight within 17 days. These findings highlight the use of UAS as a promising new method to remotely monitor changes in body condition and animal health, which can be used to determine the potential effects of anthropogenic disturbance and environmental change on free-ranging odontocetes.

Extreme diving in mammals: first estimates of behavioural aerobic dive limits in Cuvier's beaked whales

We analysed 3680 dives from 23 satellite-linked tags deployed on Cuvier's beaked whales to assess the relationship between long duration dives and inter-deep dive intervals and to estimate aerobic dive limit (ADL). The median duration of presumed foraging dives was 59 min and 5% of dives exceeded 77.7 min. We found no relationship between the longest 5% of dive durations and the following inter-deep dive interval nor any relationship with the ventilation period immediately prior to or following a long dive. We suggest that Cuvier's beaked whales have low metabolic rates, high oxygen storage capacities and a high acid-buffering capacity to deal with the by-products of both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, which enables them to extend dive durations and exploit their bathypelagic foraging habitats.

Comparative Respiratory Physiology in Cetaceans

In the current study, we used breath-by-breath respirometry to evaluate respiratory physiology under voluntary control in a male beluga calf [Delphinapterus leucas, body mass range (M b): 151-175 kg], an adult female (estimated M b = 500-550 kg) and a juvenile male (M b = 279 kg) false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) housed in managed care. Our results suggest that the measured breathing frequency (f R) is lower, while tidal volume (V T) is significantly greater as compared with allometric predictions from terrestrial mammals. Including previously published data from adult bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) beluga, harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), killer whale (Orcinus orca), pilot whale (Globicephala scammoni), and gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) show that the allometric mass-exponents for V T and f R are similar to that for terrestrial mammals (V T: 1.00, f R: -0.20). In addition, our results suggest an allometric relationship for respiratory flow ( V . ), with a mass-exponent between 0.63 and 0.70, and where the expiratory V . was an average 30% higher as compared with inspiratory V . . These data provide enhanced understanding of the respiratory physiology of cetaceans and are useful to provide proxies of lung function to better understand lung health or physiological limitations.

Pulmonary function testing as a diagnostic tool to assess respiratory health in bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus

Pulmonary function testing was performed in 3 bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus (1 female and 2 males) under managed care during a 2 yr period to assess whether these data provide diagnostic information about respiratory health. Pulmonary radiographs and standard clinical testing were used to evaluate the pulmonary health of each dolphin. The female dolphin (F1) had evidence of chronic pulmonary fibrosis, and 1 male (M2) developed pneumonia during the study. Pulmonary function data were collected from maximal respiratory efforts in water and from spontaneous breaths while beached. From these data, the flow-volume relationship, the flow measured between 25 and 75% of the expired vital capacity (mid forced expiratory flow, FEF25%-75%), and the percent of the vital capacity (VC) at the peak expiratory flow (%VCPEF), were evaluated and compared with the diagnostic assessment. For maximal respiratory manoeuvres in water, there were no differences in FEF25%-75% or %VCPEF, and the flow-volume relationship showed a consistent pattern for F1. Additionally, FEF25%-75% and %VCPEF decreased by 27 and 52%, respectively, and the flow-volume relationship showed clear flow limitations with emerging disease in M2. While spontaneously breathing on land, M2 also showed a 49% decrease in %VCPEF and changes in the flow-volume relationship, indicating flow limitations following the development of pneumonia. Based on these preliminary results, we suggest that pulmonary function testing should be given more attention as a non-invasive and possibly adjunctive diagnostic tool to evaluate lung health of dolphins under managed care and in the wild.

Health Assessments of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): Past, Present, and Potential Conservation Applications

The common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is a global marine mammal species for which some populations, due to their coastal accessibility, have been monitored diligently by scientists for decades. Health assessment examinations have developed a comprehensive knowledge base of dolphin biology, population structure, and environmental or anthropogenic stressors affecting their dynamics. Bottlenose dolphin health assessments initially started as stock assessments prior to acquisition. Over the last four decades, health assessments have evolved into essential conservation management tools of free-ranging dolphin populations. Baseline data enable comparison of stressors between geographic locations and associated changes in individual and population health status. In addition, long-term monitoring provides opportunities for insights into population shifts over time, with retrospective application of novel diagnostic tests on archived samples. Expanding scientific knowledge enables effective long-term conservation management strategies by facilitating informed decision making and improving social understanding of the anthropogenic effects. The ability to use bottlenose dolphins as a model for studying marine mammal health has been pivotal in our understanding of anthropogenic effects on multiple marine mammal species. Future studies aim to build on current knowledge to influence management decisions and species conservation. This paper reviews the historical approaches to dolphin health assessments, present day achievements, and development of future conservation goals.

Ventilation and gas exchange before and after voluntary static surface breath-holds in clinically healthy bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus

We measured respiratory flow (V̇), breathing frequency (f _R), tidal volume (V _T), breath duration and end-expired O₂ content in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) before and after static surface breath-holds ranging from 34 to 292 s. There was considerable variation in the end-expired O₂, V _T and f _R following a breath-hold. The analysis suggests that the dolphins attempt to minimize recovery following a dive by altering V _T and f _R to rapidly replenish the O₂ stores. For the first breath following a surface breath-hold, the end-expired O₂ decreased with dive duration, while V _T and f _R increased. Throughout the recovery period, end-expired O₂ increased while the respiratory effort (V _T, f _R) decreased. We propose that the dolphins alter respiratory effort following a breath-hold according to the reduction in end-expired O₂ levels, allowing almost complete recovery after 1.2 min.

Using Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia to Estimate Inspired Tidal Volume in the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

Man-made environmental change may have significant impact on apex predators, like marine mammals. Thus, it is important to assess the physiological boundaries for survival in these species, and assess how climate change may affect foraging efficiency and the limits for survival. In the current study, we investigated whether the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) could estimate tidal volume (V T) in resting bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). For this purpose, we measured respiratory flow and electrocardiogram (ECG) in five adult bottlenose dolphins at rest while breathing voluntarily. Initially, an exponential decay function, using three parameters (baseline heart rate, the change in heart rate following a breath, and an exponential decay constant) was used to describe the temporal change in instantaneous heart rate following a breath. The three descriptors, in addition to body mass, were used to develop a Generalized Additive Model (GAM) to predict the inspired tidal volume (V Tinsp). The GAM allowed us to predict V Tinsp with an average ( ± SD) overestimate of 3 ± 2%. A jackknife sensitivity analysis, where 4 of the five dolphins were used to fit the GAM and the 5th dolphin used to make predictions resulted in an average overestimate of 2 ± 10%. Future studies should be used to assess whether similar relationships exist in active animals, allowing V T to be studied in free-ranging animals provided that heart rate can be measured.

Resting Metabolic Rate and Lung Function in Wild Offshore Common Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, Near Bermuda

Diving mammals have evolved a suite of physiological adaptations to manage respiratory gases during extended breath-hold dives. To test the hypothesis that offshore bottlenose dolphins have evolved physiological adaptations to improve their ability for extended deep dives and as protection for lung barotrauma, we investigated the lung function and respiratory physiology of four wild common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) near the island of Bermuda. We measured blood hematocrit (Hct, %), resting metabolic rate (RMR, l O₂ ⋅ min^-1), tidal volume (V_T, l), respiratory frequency (f_R, breaths ⋅ min^-1), respiratory flow (l ⋅ min^-1), and dynamic lung compliance (C_L, l ⋅ cmH₂O^-1) in air and in water, and compared measurements with published results from coastal, shallow-diving dolphins. We found that offshore dolphins had greater Hct (56 ± 2%) compared to shallow-diving bottlenose dolphins (range: 30–49%), thus resulting in a greater O₂ storage capacity and longer aerobic diving duration. Contrary to our hypothesis, the specific C_L (sC_L, 0.30 ± 0.12 cmH₂O^-1) was not different between populations. Neither the mass-specific RMR (3.0 ± 1.7 ml O₂ ⋅ min^-1 ⋅ kg^-1) nor V_T (23.0 ± 3.7 ml ⋅ kg^-1) were different from coastal ecotype bottlenose dolphins, both in the wild and under managed care, suggesting that deep-diving dolphins do not have metabolic or respiratory adaptations that differ from the shallow-diving ecotypes. The lack of respiratory adaptations for deep diving further support the recently developed hypothesis that gas management in cetaceans is not entirely passive but governed by alteration in the ventilation-perfusion matching, which allows for selective gas exchange to protect against diving related problems such as decompression sickness.

Modeling Tissue and Blood Gas Kinetics in Coastal and Offshore Common Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are highly versatile breath-holding predators that have adapted to a wide range of foraging niches from rivers and coastal ecosystems to deep-water oceanic habitats. Considerable research has been done to understand how bottlenose dolphins manage O2 during diving, but little information exists on other gases or how pressure affects gas exchange. Here we used a dynamic multi-compartment gas exchange model to estimate blood and tissue O2, CO2, and N2 from high-resolution dive records of two different common bottlenose dolphin ecotypes inhabiting shallow (Sarasota Bay) and deep (Bermuda) habitats. The objective was to compare potential physiological strategies used by the two populations to manage shallow and deep diving life styles. We informed the model using species-specific parameters for blood hematocrit, resting metabolic rate, and lung compliance. The model suggested that the known O2 stores were sufficient for Sarasota Bay dolphins to remain within the calculated aerobic dive limit (cADL), but insufficient for Bermuda dolphins that regularly exceeded their cADL. By adjusting the model to reflect the body composition of deep diving Bermuda dolphins, with elevated muscle mass, muscle myoglobin concentration and blood volume, the cADL increased beyond the longest dive duration, thus reflecting the necessary physiological and morphological changes to maintain their deep-diving life-style. The results indicate that cardiac output had to remain elevated during surface intervals for both ecotypes, and suggests that cardiac output has to remain elevated during shallow dives in-between deep dives to allow sufficient restoration of O2 stores for Bermuda dolphins. Our integrated modeling approach contradicts predictions from simple models, emphasizing the complex nature of physiological interactions between circulation, lung compression, and gas exchange.

Field energetics and lung function in wild bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in Sarasota Bay Florida

We measured respiratory flow rates, and expired O2 in 32 (2-34 years, body mass [Mb] range: 73-291 kg) common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) during voluntary breaths on land or in water (between 2014 and 2017). The data were used to measure the resting O2 consumption rate ([Formula: see text], range: 0.76-9.45 ml O2 min-1 kg-1) and tidal volume (VT, range: 2.2-10.4 l) during rest. For adult dolphins, the resting VT, but not [Formula: see text], correlated with body mass (Mb, range: 141-291 kg) with an allometric mass-exponent of 0.41. These data suggest that the mass-specific VT of larger dolphins decreases considerably more than that of terrestrial mammals (mass-exponent: 1.03). The average resting [Formula: see text] was similar to previously published metabolic measurements from the same species. Our data indicate that the resting metabolic rate for a 150 kg dolphin would be 3.9 ml O2 min-1 kg-1, and the metabolic rate for active animals, assuming a multiplier of 3-6, would range from 11.7 to 23.4 ml O2 min-1 kg-1.\absbreak Our measurements provide novel data for resting energy use and respiratory physiology in wild cetaceans, which may have significant value for conservation efforts and for understanding the bioenergetic requirements of this species.