The effect of formation swimming on tailbeat and breathing frequencies in killer whales

IF 1.9 2区 生物学 Q3 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Federica Spina, Michael N. Weiss, Darren P. Croft, Paolo Luschi, Alessandro Massolo, Paolo Domenici
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In many aquatic taxa, formation traveling can reduce the energetic expenditure of locomotion by exploiting the vorticity trails shed by neighbors or through drafting. Cetaceans, especially odontocetes, often swim in groups; nevertheless, the possibility that whales gain energetic benefits from swimming in formation remains poorly studied, apart from mother-calf pairs. Between June and September in 2019 and 2021, we recorded aerial videos of Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Salish Sea (USA) travelling in groups. We estimated whale tailbeat and breathing frequencies as proxies of the relative energetic costs of swimming, and tested the effect of swimming speed, relative positioning (e.g., leaders, whales in the middle of groups, or followers), sex and estimated size on these observed proxies. Our results reveal a complex relationship between physical characteristics, relative positioning, and energetic proxies. Intervals between respiration lasted longer in large-sized trailing individuals, but the overall breathing frequency was similar for all whales regardless of their position. The tailbeat frequency was mainly associated to whale sex, size, and swimming speed; in addition, tailbeat frequency showed a decreasing trend as the number of individuals in the formation increased. We found moderate evidence that position-based energetic effects may be present in the formation swimming of killer whales, and it is likely that additional factors such as social ties and hierarchies, play a key role in determining individual positioning in travelling groups.

Significance

Swimming in formation has been extensively studied in fish and other aquatic animals and has been documented to provide energetic advantages. Our understanding of the potential energetic benefits of wild cetacean formation swimming has been constrained by the difficulties of studying the movement of whale groups from traditional observation platforms. In recent years, non-invasive observations of cetaceans using unoccupied aerial systems have significantly improved the observation of these species in the wild, providing an exciting opportunity to better understand their behaviors and habits. Our results show a tendency for formation swimming to affect two energetic proxies (tailbeat frequency and the duration of underwater intervals between surfacing events). The results of this study set the stage for further research to identify the multiple determinants affecting killer whale formation swimming which go beyond purely energetic advantages, e.g. social relationships.

Abstract Image

编队游泳对虎鲸尾音和呼吸频率的影响
摘要 在许多水生类群中,编队游泳可以通过利用邻近动物或牵引动物留下的涡迹来减少运动的能量消耗。鲸目动物,尤其是齿鲸,经常成群结队地游泳;然而,除了母鲸和小鲸成对游泳之外,对鲸鱼是否可能从结队游泳中获得能量益处的研究仍然很少。在2019年和2021年的6月至9月期间,我们在美国萨利什海(Salish Sea)录制了南居虎鲸(Orcinus orca)成群游动的航拍视频。我们估算了鲸鱼的搏尾频率和呼吸频率,作为游泳相对能量成本的代用指标,并测试了游泳速度、相对位置(如领头鲸、处于群体中间的鲸鱼或跟随者)、性别和估计体型对这些观察到的代用指标的影响。我们的研究结果表明,身体特征、相对位置和能量代用指标之间存在复杂的关系。体型较大的尾随个体的呼吸间隔时间较长,但无论其位置如何,所有鲸鱼的总体呼吸频率相似。尾拍频率主要与鲸的性别、体型和游速有关;此外,尾拍频率随着队列中个体数量的增加而呈下降趋势。我们发现了虎鲸编队游泳中可能存在基于位置的能量效应的适度证据,而且其他因素(如社会关系和等级制度)很可能在决定个体在行进群体中的位置方面起着关键作用。我们对野生鲸目动物编队游泳的潜在能量优势的了解一直受到从传统观察平台研究鲸群运动的困难的限制。近年来,利用无人机系统对鲸目动物进行非侵入式观测大大改善了对这些物种的野外观测,为更好地了解它们的行为和习性提供了一个令人兴奋的机会。我们的研究结果表明,编队游泳往往会影响两种能量代用指标(尾搏频率和浮出水面之间的水下间隔时间)。这项研究的结果为进一步的研究奠定了基础,以确定影响虎鲸编队游泳的多种决定因素,这些因素不仅仅是纯粹的能量优势,例如社会关系。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.90
自引率
8.70%
发文量
146
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: The journal publishes reviews, original contributions and commentaries dealing with quantitative empirical and theoretical studies in the analysis of animal behavior at the level of the individual, group, population, community, and species.
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