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Cade DE, Kahane-Rapport SR, Gough WT, Bierlich KC, Linsky JMJ, Calambokidis J, Johnston DW, Goldbogen JA, Friedlaender AS. Minke whale feeding rate limitations suggest constraints on the minimum body size for engulfment filtration feeding. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:535-546. [PMID: 36914772 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-01993-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Bulk filter feeding has enabled gigantism throughout evolutionary history. The largest animals, extant rorqual whales, utilize intermittent engulfment filtration feeding (lunge feeding), which increases in efficiency with body size, enabling their gigantism. The smallest extant rorquals (7-10 m minke whales), however, still exhibit short-term foraging efficiencies several times greater than smaller non-filter-feeding cetaceans, raising the question of why smaller animals do not utilize this foraging modality. We collected 437 h of bio-logging data from 23 Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) to test the relationship of feeding rates (λf) to body size. Here, we show that while ultra-high nighttime λf (mean ± s.d.: 165 ± 40 lunges h-1; max: 236 lunges h-1; mean depth: 28 ± 46 m) were indistinguishable from predictions from observations of larger species, daytime λf (mean depth: 72 ± 72 m) were only 25-40% of predicted rates. Both λf were near the maxima allowed by calculated biomechanical, physiological and environmental constraints, but these temporal constraints meant that maximum λf was below the expected λf for animals smaller than ~5 m-the length of weaned minke whales. Our findings suggest that minimum size for specific filter-feeding body plans may relate broadly to temporal restrictions on filtration rate and have implications for the evolution of filter feeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- David E Cade
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
| | | | - William T Gough
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - K C Bierlich
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA
- Marine Mammal Institute, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, USA
| | - Jacob M J Linsky
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | | | - David W Johnston
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA
| | | | - Ari S Friedlaender
- Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Evaluating the Existence of Vertebrate Deadfall Communities from the Early Jurassic Posidonienschiefer Formation. GEOSCIENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences12040158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Large vertebrate carcasses contain significant amounts of nutrients that upon death are transferred from the water column to the benthos, enriching the immediate environment. The organisms exploiting these ephemeral resources vary as the carcass decays, creating an ecological succession: mobile scavengers arrive first, followed by enrichment opportunists, sulfophilic taxa, and lastly reef species encrusting the exposed bones. Such communities have been postulated to subsist on the carcasses of Mesozoic marine vertebrates, but are rarely documented in the Jurassic. In particular, these communities are virtually unknown from the Early Jurassic, despite the occurrence of several productive fossil Lagerstätte that have produced thousands of vertebrate bones and skeletons. We review published occurrences and present new findings related to the development of deadfall communities in the Toarcian Posidonienschiefer Formation of southwestern Germany, focusing on the classic locality of Holzmaden. We report the presence of the mobile scavenger, enrichment opportunist, and reef stages, and found potential evidence for the poorly documented sulfophilic stage. Although rare in the Posidonienschiefer Formation, such communities do occur in association with exceptionally preserved vertebrate specimens, complementing a growing body of evidence that a temporarily oxygenated benthic environment does not preclude exceptional vertebrate fossil preservation.
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Peredo CM, Pyenson ND. Morphological variation of the relictual alveolar structures in the mandibles of baleen whales. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11890. [PMID: 34395101 PMCID: PMC8327965 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 07/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Living baleen whales (mysticetes) are bulk filter feeders that use keratinous baleen plates to filter food from prey laden water. Extant mysticetes are born entirely edentulous, though they possess tooth buds early in ontogeny, a trait inherited from toothed ancestors. The mandibles of extant baleen whales have neither teeth nor baleen; teeth are resorbed in utero and baleen grows only on the palate. The mandibles of extant baleen whales also preserve a series of foramina and associated sulci that collectively form an elongated trough, called the alveolar groove. Despite this name, it remains unclear if the alveolar groove of edentulous mysticetes and the dental structures of toothed mammals are homologous. Here, we describe and quantify the anatomical diversity of these structures across extant mysticetes and compare their variable morphologies across living taxonomic groups (i.e., Balaenidae, Neobalaenidae, Eschrichtiidae, and Balaenopteridae). Although we found broad variability across taxonomic groups for the alveolar groove length, occupying approximately 60–80 percent of the mandible’s total curvilinear length (CLL) across all taxa, the relictual alveolar foramen showed distinct patterns, ranging between 15–25% CLL in balaenids, while ranging between 3–12% CLL in balaenopterids. This variability and the morphological patterning along the body of the mandible is consistent with the hypothesis that the foramina underlying the alveolar groove reflect relictual alveoli. These findings also lay the groundwork for future histological studies to examine the contents of these foramina and clarify their potential role in the feeding process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Mauricio Peredo
- Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., United States of America.,Earth and Environmental Science, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America.,Marine Biology, Texas A&M University - Galveston, Galveston, TX, United States of America
| | - Nicholas D Pyenson
- Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., United States of America.,Paleontology and Geology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA, United States of America
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Wysokowski M, Zaslansky P, Ehrlich H. Macrobiomineralogy: Insights and Enigmas in Giant Whale Bones and Perspectives for Bioinspired Materials Science. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2020; 6:5357-5367. [PMID: 33320547 DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c00364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The giant bones of whales (Cetacea) are the largest extant biomineral-based constructs known. The fact that such mammalian bones can grow up to 7 m long raises questions about differences and similarities to other smaller bones. Size and exposure to environmental stress are good reasons to suppose that an unexplored level of hierarchical organization may be present that is not needed in smaller bones. The existence of such a macroscopic naturally grown structure with poorly described mechanisms for biomineralization is an example of the many yet unexplored phenomena in living organisms. In this article, we describe key observations in macrobiomineralization and suggest that the large scale of biomineralization taking place in selected whale bones implies they may teach us fundamental principles of the chemistry, biology, and biomaterials science governing bone formation, from atomistic to the macrolevel. They are also associated with a very lipid rich environment on those bones. This has implications for bone development and damage sensing that has not yet been fully addressed. We propose that whale bone construction poses extreme requirements for inorganic material storage, mediated by biomacromolecules. Unlike extinct large mammals, cetaceans still live deep in large terrestrial water bodies following eons of adaptation. The nanocomposites from which the bones are made, comprising biomacromolecules and apatite nanocrystals, must therefore be well adapted to create the macroporous hierarchically structured architectures of the bones, with mechanical properties that match the loads imposed in vivo. This massive skeleton directly contributes to the survival of these largest mammals in the aquatic environments of Earth, with structural refinements being the result of 60 million years of evolution. We also believe that the concepts presented in this article highlight the beneficial uses of multidisciplinary and multiscale approaches to study the structural peculiarities of both organic and inorganic phases as well as mechanisms of biomineralization in highly specialized and evolutionarily conserved hard tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcin Wysokowski
- Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology, Poznan University of Technology, Berdychowo 4, Poznan 60965, Poland.,Institute of Electronics and Sensor Materials, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Gustav-Zeuner Strasse 3, Freiberg 09599, Germany
| | - Paul Zaslansky
- Department for Restorative and Preventive Dentistry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany
| | - Hermann Ehrlich
- Institute of Electronics and Sensor Materials, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Gustav-Zeuner Strasse 3, Freiberg 09599, Germany
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Abstract
The largest animals are baleen filter feeders that exploit large aggregations of small-bodied plankton. Although this feeding mechanism has evolved multiple times in marine vertebrates, rorqual whales exhibit a distinct lunge filter feeding mode that requires extreme physiological adaptations-most of which remain poorly understood. Here, we review the biomechanics of the lunge feeding mechanism in rorqual whales that underlies their extraordinary foraging performance and gigantic body size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert E Shadwick
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Jean Potvin
- Department of Physics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California
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Laitman JT, Albertine KH. The Anatomical Record
Returns to the Sea: Exploring the Great Whales and Their Interesting Relatives. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2019; 302:659-662. [DOI: 10.1002/ar.24119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
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Vogl W. A "Welcoming" Introduction to a Canadian Northwest Coast Thematic Papers Issue. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2018; 300:1930-1934. [PMID: 28971625 DOI: 10.1002/ar.23675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 08/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
In this commentary, I provide an introduction to and the context for the four articles in the thematic series published to celebrate the Editorial Board Meeting of the Anatomical Record in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in July of 2017. The articles describe various aspects of whale anatomy and the potential for a new generation of digital tags to provide information on functional anatomy of free swimming animals in the wild. The whales described are all native to the northwest coast of North America, as well as being found elsewhere, and the authors are related in some way to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Anat Rec, 300:1930-1934, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wayne Vogl
- Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Life Science Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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