Analysis of why sea turtles swim slowly: a metabolic and mechanical approach
Analysis of why sea turtles swim slowly: a metabolic and mechanical approach
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DOI：
10.1242/jeb.236216
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发表时间：
2021-02-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Sato, Katsufumi
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kinoshita, Chihiro;Fukuoka, Takuya;Sato, Katsufumi
具有高静止代谢率和低阻力系数的动物通常具有快速的最佳游泳速度，以最小化每单位行进距离的能量成本。海龟的巡航游泳速度（0.5-0.6 m/s（-1））比海鸟和海洋哺乳动物的巡航游泳速度（1-2 m/s（-1））慢。本研究测量了海龟的静息代谢率和阻力系数，以回答两个问题：（1）海龟是否以最佳游泳速度游泳？（2）哪些因素影响海龟的最佳游泳速度？测定了13只红海龟和12只绿色海龟的静息代谢率，并在自然条件下测定了15只红海龟和9只绿色海龟的巡航游泳速度，估算了它们的阻力系数。测量的巡航游泳速度（0.27-0.50 m s（-1））与预测的最佳游泳速度（0.19-0.32 m s（-1））一致。海龟的静息代谢率约为企鹅的二十分之一，海龟的阻力系数和额面积的乘积是企鹅的8.6倍。因此，我们的研究结果表明，低静息代谢率和高阻力系数决定了龟的缓慢巡航速度。
Animals with high resting metabolic rates and low drag coefficients typically have fast optimal swim speeds in order to minimise energy costs per unit travel distance. The cruising swim speeds of sea turtles (0.5-0.6 m s(-1)) are slower than those of seabirds and marine mammals (1-2 m s(-1)). This study measured the resting metabolic rates and drag coefficients of sea turtles to answer two questions: (1) do turtles swim at the optimal swim speed?; and (2) what factors control the optimal swim speed of turtles? The resting metabolic rates of 13 loggerhead and 12 green turtles were measured; then, the cruising swim speeds of 15 loggerhead and 9 green turtles were measured and their drag coefficients were estimated under natural conditions. The measured cruising swim speeds (0.27-0.50 m s(-1)) agreed with predicted optimal swim speeds (0.19-0.32 m s(-1)). The resting metabolic rates of turtles were approximately one-twentieth those of penguins, and the products of the drag coefficient and frontal area of turtles were 8.6 times higher than those of penguins. Therefore, our results suggest that both low resting metabolic rate and high drag coefficient of turtles determine their slow cruising speed.