TY - JOUR
T1 - Visual deprivation induces a stronger dive response in a harbor porpoise
AU - Bakkeren, Ciska
AU - Ladegaard, Michael
AU - Hansen, Kirstin Anderson
AU - Wahlberg, Magnus
AU - Madsen, Peter Teglberg
AU - Rojano-Doñate, Laia
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - The dive response allows marine mammals to perform prolonged breath-hold dives to access rich marine prey resources. Via dynamic adjustments of peripheral vasoconstriction and bradycardia, oxygen consumption can be tailored to breath-hold duration, depth, exercise, and even expectations during dives. By investigating the heart rate of a trained harbor porpoise during a two-alternative forced choice task, where the animal is either acoustically masked or blindfolded, we test the hypothesis that sensory deprivation will lead to a stronger dive response to conserve oxygen when facing a more uncertain and smaller sensory umwelt. We show that the porpoise halves its diving heart rate (from 55 to 25 bpm) when blindfolded but presents no change in heart rate during masking of its echolocation. Therefore, visual stimuli may matter more to echolocating toothed whales than previously assumed, and sensory deprivation can be a major driver of the dive response, possibly as an anti-predator measure.
AB - The dive response allows marine mammals to perform prolonged breath-hold dives to access rich marine prey resources. Via dynamic adjustments of peripheral vasoconstriction and bradycardia, oxygen consumption can be tailored to breath-hold duration, depth, exercise, and even expectations during dives. By investigating the heart rate of a trained harbor porpoise during a two-alternative forced choice task, where the animal is either acoustically masked or blindfolded, we test the hypothesis that sensory deprivation will lead to a stronger dive response to conserve oxygen when facing a more uncertain and smaller sensory umwelt. We show that the porpoise halves its diving heart rate (from 55 to 25 bpm) when blindfolded but presents no change in heart rate during masking of its echolocation. Therefore, visual stimuli may matter more to echolocating toothed whales than previously assumed, and sensory deprivation can be a major driver of the dive response, possibly as an anti-predator measure.
KW - Animal physiology
KW - Biological sciences
KW - Physiology
KW - Zoology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149376108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106204
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106204
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36876128
AN - SCOPUS:85149376108
SN - 2589-0042
VL - 26
JO - iScience
JF - iScience
IS - 3
M1 - 106204
ER -