... selection of research animals have provided a holistic understanding of diving mammals’ physiology, behavior and ecology. We explore the role of the aerobic diving limit, body size, oxygen stores, prey distribution and metabolism. We then identify gaps in our knowledge and suggest areas for future research...

...Shawn R. Noren ABSTRACT Marine mammals endure extended breath-holds while performing active behaviors, which has fascinated scientists for over a century. It is now known that these animals have large onboard oxygen stores and utilize oxygen-conserving mechanisms to prolong aerobically supported...

... 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...

... 2014 © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd 2014 Calculated aerobic dive limit Carbon monoxide Hemoglobin absorption spectra Marine mammal Oxygen stores Carbon monoxide (CO) is often classified as a strictly toxic gas, depriving the body of oxygen (O 2 ) by binding...

.... Although there have been many measurements of body oxygen stores, there have been few investigations of the actual depletion of those stores during dives. Yet, it is the pattern, rate and magnitude of depletion of O 2 stores that underlie the ADL. Therefore, in order to assess strategies of O 2 store...

...: International Coastal Research Center, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan 22 5 2011 © 2011. 2011 aerobic dive limit diving air volume emperor penguin oxygen stores stroke rate surface interval...

.... Pregnancy status did not influence blood volume. Mean dive duration, a proxy for physiological demand, increased as a function of how long seals had been at sea, followed by mass and hematocrit. Strong effects of female body mass (range, 218-600 kg) on dive duration, which were independent of oxygen stores...

... the extent to which blood and muscle oxygen stores varied as a function of age, body size and sex in the sexually dimorphic California sea lion, Zalophus californianus . We measured total body oxygen stores, including hematocrit, hemoglobin, MCHC, plasma volume, blood volume and muscle myoglobin in pups...

...–19 days are presented concomitantly with physiological measurements ( N =8, sampled both early and late in the nursing period) of blood oxygen stores and body composition. Pups grew from 12.6±1.8 kg (mean age 2 days, total body fat 16±4 %) to 22.2±2.5 kg (mean age 16 days, total body fat 35±5...

... of this time, the calculated total usable oxygen store was approximately the same in control and dive-trained ducks (44 and 42 mlO 2 STPD kg −1 , respectively), although the relative quantities of usable oxygen in each of the three main storage sites (respiratory system, blood and skeletal muscle) differed...

... linear regression analysis on log 10 -transformed variables to generate power equations of the form Y = aX b (Y, any variable; X, body mass; a, mass coefficient; b, mass exponent). The mass exponent was 1·19 for the total oxygen stores and 0·64 for maximum diving duration. Using measurements of brain...