MSC 350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Marine Mammal, Basal Metabolic Rate, Diocletian Window
25 Oct 2016
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How energy is acquired and used to maximize fitness. How an organism balance intake and use of energy: budget. Allocating energy: implication for life histories: complex decisions. How and on what to feed in order to maximize fitness. How to use energy obtained for foraging: marine mammals allocate energy. Reproduction will not happen if the rest have not been achieved: growth vs. reproduction. Biggest balance is between allocating energy between growth. Balance of heat input via metabolism vs. heat loss. If poor insulation, greater need for metabolic heat. If small body size, there is a greater surface area for heat loss so more body heat required to make. Sea otters eat literally all day to keep up metabolism. Distribution of pinnipeds vs. cetaceans and thermal challenges related to reproduction: marine mammal metabolism. Very difficult to study using traditional methods (particularly by direct calorimetry)
