Diving Biology of Emperor Penguins

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

9814794PONGANISThe diving ability of the emperor penguin (Aptenoidytes forsteri), which lives within the pack ice zone of the Antarctic, has been the subject of interest for many years. On a routine basis, emperor penguins hunt for food for about two to ten minutes at depths between 50 and 500 meters. These birds have been recorded as reaching a depth of nearly 550 meters. The longest dives are not the deepest, and the record twenty-two minutes recorded diving duration was well below its record depth. The goals of this project are to understand both the physiological and behavioral mechanisms underlying the breath-hold capacity of these diving birds, to understand how the physiological limits may affect the natural diving behavior and ecology of these species, and to utilize the unique adaptation of diving birds to explore mechanisms of organ and tissue hypoxemic tolerance. This project will examine the diving physiology and behavior of emperor penguins in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Thermoregulation, underwater behavior and regulation of myoglobin concentration are three significant aspects of diving biology for which the emperor penguin is an excellent model of investigation of the diving physiology and diving behavior of diving birds and mammals. This project focuses on the role of decreased body temperature in extending the duration of aerobic metabolism during diving. Additionally, a small camera will be utilized to examine behavior during diving, which will allow for a correlation between prey ingestion and wing stroke frequency and changes in core and muscle temperature. Thirdly, a molecular biology study will utilize the high myoglobin concentration of emperors and the large increases in myoglobin concentration during chick development to examine transcriptional control of the myoglobin gene. This project will provide an understanding of aspects of the diving physiology and behavior of emperor penguins, which will be applicable to studies of other diving birds and mammals.