Abstract
Seals are known to be periodic breathers with eupneic and apneic phases at rest. We video-recorded a resting Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) that appeared head up from an ice hole in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. From the video recorded, the duration of each eupneic and apneic phase was extracted, and heart rate in apneic phase was obtained by counting ripples of the sea surface around the neck of a seal. The results indicated that the distribution of instantaneous heart rate was bimodal. In addition, the higher the apneic heart rate, the shorter the apneic duration as well as the combination of apneic duration and successive eupneic duration (A–E duration). From these analyses, we characterized the periodic breathing of a resting Weddell seal.
References
Andrews RD, Jones DR, Williams JD, Thorson PH, Oliver GW, Costa DP, Le Boeuf BJ (1997) Heart rates of northern elephant seals diving at sea and resting on the beach. J Exp Biol 200:2083–2095
Bartholomew JGA (1954) Body temperature and respiratory and heart rates in the northern elephant seal. J Mammal 35:211–218
Castellini MA, Kooyman GL, Ponganis PJ (1992) Metabolic rates of freely diving Weddell seals: correlations with oxygen stores, swim velocity and diving duration. J Exp Biol 165:181–194
Castellini MA, Rea LD, Sanders JL, Castellini JM, Zenteno-Savin T (1994) Developmental changes in cardiorespiratory patterns of sleep-associated apnea in northern elephant seals. Am J Physiol 267:R1294–R1301
Falke KJ, Busch T, Hoffmann O, Liggins GC, Liggins J, Mohnhaupt R, Roberts JD Jr, Stanek K, Zapol WM (2008) Breathing pattern, CO2 elimination and the absence of exhaled NO in freely diving Weddell seals. Respir Physiol Neurobiol 162:85–92
Hill RD, Schneider RC, Liggins GC, Schuette AH, Elliott RL, Guppy M, Hochachka PW, Qvist J, Falke KJ, Zapol WM (1987) Heart rate and body temperature during free diving of Weddell seals. Am J Physiol 253:R344–R351
Kooyman GL (1968) An analysis of some behavioral and physiological characteristics related to diving in the Weddell seal. Antarctic Res Ser 11:227–261
Kooyman GL, Campbell WB (1972) Heart rates in freely diving Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli. Comp Biochem Physiol A 43:31–36
Kooyman GL, Kerem DH, Campbell WB, Wright JJ (1971) Pulmonary function in freely diving Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli. Respir Physiol 12:271–282
Kooyman GL, Kerem DH, Campbell WB, Wright JJ (1973) Pulmonary gas exchange in freely diving Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli. Respir Physiol 17:283–290
Lapierre JL, Schreer JF, Burns JM, Hammill MO (2004) Developmental changes in cardiorespiratory patterns associated with terrestrial apnoeas in harbour seal pups. J Exp Biol 207:3891–3898
Ponganis PJ, Stockard TK, Levenson DH, Berg L, Baranov EA (2006) Cardiac output and muscle blood flow during rest-associated apneas of elephant seal. Comp Biochem Physiol A 144:105–111
Ponganis PJ, Stockard TK, Meir JU, Williams CL, Ponganis KV, van Dam RP, Howard R (2007) Returning on empty: extreme blood O2 depletion underlies dive capacity of emperor penguins. J Exp Biol 210:4279–4285
Acknowledgments
We thank P. J. Ponganis, T. K. Stockard, J. Heil, J. Meir, K. V. Ponganis and E. Stockard for assistance in the field, and Y. Naito for helpful suggestions. This study was partly supported by the National Science Foundation (OPP-0229638), the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition and KAKENHI (22688023).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fuse, Y.K., Sakamoto, K.Q., Sato, K. et al. Cardiorespiratory pattern of rest-associated apnea in a Weddell seal: a case study at an ice hole in Antarctica. Polar Biol 35, 969–972 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1140-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1140-9