Common metabolic constraints on dive duration in endothermic and ectothermic vertebrates
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Abstract
Dive duration in air-breathing vertebrates is thought to be constrained by the volume of oxygen stored in the body and the rate at which it is consumed (i.e., “o xygen store/usage hypothesis” ). The body mass-dependence of dive duration among endothermic vertebrates is largely supportive of this model, but previous analyses of ectothermic vertebrates show no such body mass-dependence. Here we show that dive duration in both endotherms and ectotherms largely support the oxygen store/usage hypothesis after accounting for the well-established effects of temperature on oxygen consumption rates. Analyses of the body mass and temperature dependence of dive duration in 181 species of endothermic vertebrates and 29 species of ectothermic vertebrates show that dive duration increases as a power law with body mass, and decreases exponentially with increasing temperature. Thus, in the case of ectothermic vertebrates, changes in environmental temperature will likely impact the foraging ecology of divers.
Cite this as
2016. Common metabolic constraints on dive duration in endothermic and ectothermic vertebrates. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2334v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2334v1note This preprint is not peer-reviewed. You may wish to reference the subsequent peer-reviewed version of this article.
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This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
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Supplemental Information
Body Mass, Temperature, and Dive Duration Data for Vertebrates
Body mass (M, in g), temperature (T, in oC), median dive time (median DT, in minutes), maximum dive time (max DT, in minutes), and the per species median and max. dive time data (in minutes) for amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
Additional Information
Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
April Hayward conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Mariela Pajuelo performed the experiments, analyzed the data.
Catherine G. Haase analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
David M. Anderson performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables.
James F. Gillooly conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
The raw data has been supplied as a supplementary file.
Funding
The University of Florida provided support for Dr. April Hayward. No grants were used to support this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
