Diving Biology of Emperor Penguins

帝企鹅的潜水生物学

• 批准号: 9814794
• 负责人: Paul Ponganis
• 金额: $ 43.7万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego Scripps Inst of Oceanography
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-02-15 至 2003-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9814794&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Diving; Biology; Emperor; Penguins

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.

9814794 PONGANIS帝企鹅（Aptenoidytes forsteri）生活在南极洲的浮冰区，其潜水能力多年来一直是人们感兴趣的主题。帝企鹅通常会在50到500米深的海底捕食2到10分钟。据记录，这些鸟可以到达近550米的深度。最长的潜水并不是最深的，22分钟的潜水记录远远低于其记录深度。本项目的目的是了解这些潜水鸟类屏气能力的生理和行为机制，了解生理限制如何影响这些物种的自然潜水行为和生态，并利用潜水鸟类独特的适应性来探索器官和组织低氧耐受的机制。该项目将研究南极罗斯海地区帝企鹅的潜水生理和行为。体温调节、水下行为和肌红蛋白浓度的调节是潜水生物学的三个重要方面，其中帝企鹅是研究潜水鸟类和哺乳动物潜水生理和潜水行为的极好模型。 这个项目的重点是在潜水过程中降低体温在延长有氧代谢持续时间方面的作用。此外，一个小型相机将用于检查潜水期间的行为，这将允许猎物摄入和翅膀中风频率以及核心和肌肉温度变化之间的相关性。第三，分子生物学研究将利用帝企鹅的高肌红蛋白浓度和鸡发育过程中肌红蛋白浓度的大幅增加来研究肌红蛋白基因的转录控制。该项目将提供对帝企鹅潜水生理和行为方面的了解，这将适用于其他潜水鸟类和哺乳动物的研究。