Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Review › Research › peer-review
The evolution of foraging capacity and gigantism in cetaceans. / Goldbogen, J A; Madsen, P T.
In: The Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 221, No. 11, 166033, 2018.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Review › Research › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The evolution of foraging capacity and gigantism in cetaceans
AU - Goldbogen, J A
AU - Madsen, P T
N1 - © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - The extant diversity and rich fossil record of cetaceans provides an extraordinary evolutionary context for investigating the relationship between form, function and ecology. The transition from terrestrial to marine ecosystems is associated with a complex suite of morphological and physiological adaptations that were required for a fully aquatic mammalian life history. Two specific functional innovations that characterize the two great clades of cetaceans, echolocation in toothed whales (Odontoceti) and filter feeding in baleen whales (Mysticeti), provide a powerful comparative framework for integrative studies. Both clades exhibit gigantism in multiple species, but we posit that large body size may have evolved for different reasons and in response to different ecosystem conditions. Although these foraging adaptations have been studied using a combination of experimental and tagging studies, the precise functional drivers and consequences of morphological change within and among these lineages remain less understood. Future studies that focus at the interface of physiology, ecology and paleontology will help elucidate how cetaceans became the largest predators in aquatic ecosystems worldwide.
AB - The extant diversity and rich fossil record of cetaceans provides an extraordinary evolutionary context for investigating the relationship between form, function and ecology. The transition from terrestrial to marine ecosystems is associated with a complex suite of morphological and physiological adaptations that were required for a fully aquatic mammalian life history. Two specific functional innovations that characterize the two great clades of cetaceans, echolocation in toothed whales (Odontoceti) and filter feeding in baleen whales (Mysticeti), provide a powerful comparative framework for integrative studies. Both clades exhibit gigantism in multiple species, but we posit that large body size may have evolved for different reasons and in response to different ecosystem conditions. Although these foraging adaptations have been studied using a combination of experimental and tagging studies, the precise functional drivers and consequences of morphological change within and among these lineages remain less understood. Future studies that focus at the interface of physiology, ecology and paleontology will help elucidate how cetaceans became the largest predators in aquatic ecosystems worldwide.
KW - BALEEN WHALES
KW - BODY-SIZE
KW - BOTTLE-NOSED WHALE
KW - Diving
KW - ENERGY-EXPENDITURE
KW - Echolocation
KW - FASTING ENDURANCE
KW - Filter feeding
KW - LATE MIOCENE
KW - METABOLIC-RATE
KW - Mysticetes
KW - Odontocetes
KW - SHARK CARCHAROCLES-MEGALODON
KW - SPERM-WHALE
KW - Scaling
KW - WHALES ORCINUS-ORCA
U2 - 10.1242/jeb.166033
DO - 10.1242/jeb.166033
M3 - Review
C2 - 29895582
VL - 221
JO - BRITISH JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
JF - BRITISH JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
SN - 0022-0949
IS - 11
M1 - 166033
ER -