Lecture 1: Diving 1 Flashcards
What is homeostasis?
Maintenance of nearly constant conditions in the internal environment
Give some examples on how the body maintains homeostasis (4).
Your Lungs take in oxygen
-> Blood carries oxygen to the cells for use
-> Kidneys maintain blood ion concentration (e.g.
Sodium, Potassium, Hydrogen)
The Gastrointestinal System digests food to obtain nutrients
and eliminates waste from the body
Where is homeostasis challenging to maintain?
On land
What is a homeotherm?
An organism that maintains a body temperature at a constant level to survive, not based on the environment. (e.g. we need oxygen and warmth)
What is a mammal?
A warm-blooded vertebrate, spinal column around spinal cord
Give some characteristics of a mammal.
Hair/fur covers skin more or less
Female feeds young by milk produced by
mammary glands
Birth of live young
Complex brains
What is the difference between marine mammals and fish?
Locomotion (difference between dolphins and sharks swim pattern)
Marine mammals are homeotherms and breath air and fish get the oxygen from water
What are marine mammals and why do they dive?
Air-breathing yet completely aquatic animals. They get air from going to the surface and using their blowholes. They dive to find food so they can sustain a high metabolic rate.
What is the order of cetaceans?
Cetacea
How do marine mammals maintain their body temperature despite cold water?
Their blubber layer and thermoregulation
What are the suborders of cetaceans?
Mysticetes and Odontocetes
What are examples of Mysticetes?
Baleen Whales: Blue, Grey, and Humpback Whales
What are examples of Odontocetes?
Toothed Whales: Bottlenose dolphin and killer whales
What is the scientific name for killer whales?
Orcinus Orca
Rank Bottle nose dolphins, Sperm Whales, CA Sea lions, and humans by how deep they can dive.
Sperm Whale (1100 meters), Bottlenose Dolphins (500+ meters), CA Sea Lions (24-74 meters), and Humans (40 meters)
What is the scientific name for Bottlenose dolphins?
Tursiops truncatus
What is the scientific name for Humans?
Homo sapiens: wise man
What is the scientific name for Sperm Whales?
Physeter macrocephalus
How do the blowholes of marine mammals work?
They are closed except when opened by muscular action
What are the 4 respiratory adaptations of Marine mammals?
1.) Blowhole
2.) Most breathe less frequently than terrestrial
mammals
3.) They are conscious breathers (not involuntary)
4.) Large lung size
What is the scientific name for CA Sea Lions?
Zalophus californianus
What are the “bends”?
Decompression Sickness due to rapid decrease in
surrounding pressure and inhaled, dissolved nitrogen
(which is not used by the body) in the body tissues
comes out of solution, forming gas bubbles in blood
How do marine mammals breathe less frequently?
They take deeper breathes and exchange a greater % of lung air with each breath
Explain how marine mammals are conscious breathers with an example.
Bottlenose dolphin breathes 2-3 breaths per
minute (bpm) during moderate swimming
After a long dive, the dolphin may blow 10-15 bpm during
first minute on the surface
