Collaborative Research: At-sea experimental disturbances to characterize physiological plasticity in diving northern elephant seals

合作研究：海上实验干扰来表征潜水北象海豹的生理可塑性

• 批准号: 1656282
• 负责人: Birgitte McDonald
• 金额: $ 26.55万
• 依托单位: San Jose State University Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-15 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1656282&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; sea; experimental; disturbances

Marine animals must contend with ongoing environmental shifts and increased human activities in the ocean. Disturbances can affect the behavior of marine mammals, yet associated physiological costs remain unknown. Because their impressive capacity for diving is based on specialized physiology, it is likely that physiological costs limit and define the sensitivity of marine mammals to disturbances. This project will investigate variability of dive physiology in northern elephant seals by using experimental at-sea disturbances that elicit responses to noise - a stressor of global concern. The methods build on state-of-the-art logging technologies and will develop a new probe that will be capable of detecting oxygen management in the body. Cardiovascular physiology and oxygen use of the seals will be measured during routine diving, and compared with animals that experience a remote experimental disturbance while at sea. The project goal is to understand the physiological range and limits of this species, and to provide data that could predict marine mammal resilience to natural and anthropogenic stressors. These data will have wide-reaching implications for sensitive ecosystems and other species of concern that are not easily studied. It will be directly applicable to conservation and management of marine species and habitats. The project will train undergraduates, graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, and will include extensive public outreach via state parks, and a public aquarium. Environmental changes, including noise pollution, represent a fundamental challenge to the structure and sustainable function of marine ecosystems. The goal of this project is to identify physiological variability in the oxygen management of a diving seal that can be directly linked to individual success in the ocean. The project's three objectives will be achieved using at-sea data collected from translocated juvenile elephant seals, via integrated measurements of cardiovascular physiology (EKG and oxygen sensors in blood or muscle) with simultaneously collected time-depth records and 3-dimensional acceleration data to interpret underwater activity. Objective 1 will provide the first comprehensive picture of the dive phenotype in the open ocean by characterizing interrelationships among heart rate, blood oxygen depletion, muscle perfusion, and fine scale dive behavior. It will also assess molecular markers of perfusion capability in muscles with different underwater oxygen demands. Objectives 2 & 3 are based on experimentally inducing the behavioral effects of acoustic disturbance observed in many aquatic species - extended dive durations and increased cost of transport. Both objectives will examine oxygen management strategies in response to stimuli. Comparing natural versus perturbed dives permits an assessment of individual plasticity in the dive phenotype, incorporating behavior and physiology. This is a critical first step in determining the capacity of a model species to extend diving, their response to at-sea disruptions in natural dive patterns, and, ultimately, to predict thresholds of disturbance beyond which they cannot compensate.

海洋动物必须应对持续的环境变化和海洋中人类活动的增加。干扰可以影响海洋哺乳动物的行为，但相关的生理成本尚不清楚。因为它们令人印象深刻的潜水能力是建立在特殊的生理基础上的，生理成本很可能限制并决定了海洋哺乳动物对干扰的敏感性。该项目将通过使用实验性的海上干扰来研究北象海豹潜水生理的可变性，这些干扰会引起对噪音的反应——这是一个全球关注的压力源。这些方法建立在最先进的测井技术的基础上，并将开发一种能够检测体内氧气管理的新探针。将在常规潜水中测量海豹的心血管生理和氧气使用情况，并与在海上经历远程实验干扰的动物进行比较。该项目的目标是了解该物种的生理范围和极限，并提供可以预测海洋哺乳动物对自然和人为压力的恢复能力的数据。这些数据将对敏感的生态系统和其他不易研究的物种产生广泛的影响。它将直接适用于海洋物种和生境的养护和管理。该项目将培训本科生、研究生和一名博士后研究员，并将通过州立公园和公共水族馆进行广泛的公众宣传。包括噪音污染在内的环境变化对海洋生态系统的结构和可持续功能构成了根本性的挑战。这个项目的目标是确定潜水海豹在氧气管理方面的生理变化，这可以直接联系到个体在海洋中的成功。该项目的三个目标将通过从易位的幼年象海豹身上收集的海上数据来实现，通过心血管生理学（EKG和血液或肌肉中的氧气传感器）的综合测量，同时收集时间-深度记录和三维加速度数据来解释水下活动。目的1将通过描述心率、血氧消耗、肌肉灌注和细尺度潜水行为之间的相互关系，首次全面了解公海潜水表型。它还将评估不同水下氧气需求下肌肉灌注能力的分子标记。目标2和3是基于在许多水生物种中观察到的声学干扰的实验诱导行为效应——延长潜水时间和增加运输成本。这两个目标都将研究应对刺激的氧气管理策略。比较自然潜水和扰动潜水可以评估潜水表型的个体可塑性，包括行为和生理。这是确定模式物种扩展潜水能力的关键第一步，它们对自然潜水模式中海上干扰的反应，以及最终预测它们无法补偿的干扰阈值。