Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals
Decompression sickness (DCS; 'the bends') is a disease associated with gas uptake at pressure. The basic pathology and cause are relatively well known to human divers. Breath-hold diving marine mammals were thought to be relatively immune to DCS owing to multiple anatomical, physiological...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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The Royal Society Publishing
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34720 |
| _version_ | 1848754299995160576 |
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| author | Hooker, S. Fahlman, A. Moore, M. de Soto, A. de Quiros, B. Brubakk, A. Costa, D. Costidis, A. Dennison, S. Falke, K. Fernandez, A. Ferrigno, M. Fitz-Clarke, J. Garner, M. Houser, D. Jepson, P. Ketten, Darlene Kvadsheim, P. Madsen, P. Pollock, N. Rotstein, D. Rowles, T. Simmons, S. Van Bonn, W. Weathersby, P. Weise, M. Williams, T. Tyack, P. |
| author_facet | Hooker, S. Fahlman, A. Moore, M. de Soto, A. de Quiros, B. Brubakk, A. Costa, D. Costidis, A. Dennison, S. Falke, K. Fernandez, A. Ferrigno, M. Fitz-Clarke, J. Garner, M. Houser, D. Jepson, P. Ketten, Darlene Kvadsheim, P. Madsen, P. Pollock, N. Rotstein, D. Rowles, T. Simmons, S. Van Bonn, W. Weathersby, P. Weise, M. Williams, T. Tyack, P. |
| author_sort | Hooker, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Decompression sickness (DCS; 'the bends') is a disease associated with gas uptake at pressure. The basic pathology and cause are relatively well known to human divers. Breath-hold diving marine mammals were thought to be relatively immune to DCS owing to multiple anatomical, physiological and behavioural adaptations that reduce nitrogen gas (N 2) loading during dives. However, recent observations have shown that gas bubbles may form and tissue injury may occur in marine mammals under certain circumstances. Gas kinetic models based on measured time-depth profiles further suggest the potential occurrence of high blood and tissue N 2 tensions. We review evidence for gas-bubble incidence in marine mammal tissues and discuss the theory behind gas loading and bubble formation. We suggest that diving mammals vary their physiological responses according to multiple stressors, and that the perspective on marine mammal diving physiology should change from simply minimizing N 2 loading to management of the N 2 load. This suggests several avenues for further study, ranging from the effects of gas bubbles at molecular, cellular and organ function levels, to comparative studies relating the presence/absence of gas bubbles to diving behaviour. Technological advances in imaging and remote instrumentation are likely to advance this field in coming years. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:38:13Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-34720 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:38:13Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | The Royal Society Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-347202017-02-28T01:51:56Z Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals Hooker, S. Fahlman, A. Moore, M. de Soto, A. de Quiros, B. Brubakk, A. Costa, D. Costidis, A. Dennison, S. Falke, K. Fernandez, A. Ferrigno, M. Fitz-Clarke, J. Garner, M. Houser, D. Jepson, P. Ketten, Darlene Kvadsheim, P. Madsen, P. Pollock, N. Rotstein, D. Rowles, T. Simmons, S. Van Bonn, W. Weathersby, P. Weise, M. Williams, T. Tyack, P. Decompression sickness (DCS; 'the bends') is a disease associated with gas uptake at pressure. The basic pathology and cause are relatively well known to human divers. Breath-hold diving marine mammals were thought to be relatively immune to DCS owing to multiple anatomical, physiological and behavioural adaptations that reduce nitrogen gas (N 2) loading during dives. However, recent observations have shown that gas bubbles may form and tissue injury may occur in marine mammals under certain circumstances. Gas kinetic models based on measured time-depth profiles further suggest the potential occurrence of high blood and tissue N 2 tensions. We review evidence for gas-bubble incidence in marine mammal tissues and discuss the theory behind gas loading and bubble formation. We suggest that diving mammals vary their physiological responses according to multiple stressors, and that the perspective on marine mammal diving physiology should change from simply minimizing N 2 loading to management of the N 2 load. This suggests several avenues for further study, ranging from the effects of gas bubbles at molecular, cellular and organ function levels, to comparative studies relating the presence/absence of gas bubbles to diving behaviour. Technological advances in imaging and remote instrumentation are likely to advance this field in coming years. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34720 The Royal Society Publishing restricted |
| spellingShingle | Hooker, S. Fahlman, A. Moore, M. de Soto, A. de Quiros, B. Brubakk, A. Costa, D. Costidis, A. Dennison, S. Falke, K. Fernandez, A. Ferrigno, M. Fitz-Clarke, J. Garner, M. Houser, D. Jepson, P. Ketten, Darlene Kvadsheim, P. Madsen, P. Pollock, N. Rotstein, D. Rowles, T. Simmons, S. Van Bonn, W. Weathersby, P. Weise, M. Williams, T. Tyack, P. Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals |
| title | Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals |
| title_full | Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals |
| title_fullStr | Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals |
| title_short | Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals |
| title_sort | deadly diving? physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34720 |