Lecture 1: Diving 1

Question 1

What is homeostasis?

Answer 1

Maintenance of nearly constant conditions in the internal environment

Question 2

Give some examples on how the body maintains homeostasis (4).

Answer 2

 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

Question 3

Where is homeostasis challenging to maintain?

Answer 3

On land

Question 4

What is a homeotherm?

Answer 4

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)

Question 5

What is a mammal?

Answer 5

A warm-blooded vertebrate, spinal column around spinal cord

Question 6

Give some characteristics of a mammal.

Answer 6

 Hair/fur covers skin more or less
 Female feeds young by milk produced by
mammary glands
 Birth of live young
 Complex brains

Question 7

What is the difference between marine mammals and fish?

Answer 7

 Locomotion (difference between dolphins and sharks swim pattern)
 Marine mammals are homeotherms and breath air and fish get the oxygen from water

Question 8

What are marine mammals and why do they dive?

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

What is the order of cetaceans?

Answer 9

Cetacea

Question 9

How do marine mammals maintain their body temperature despite cold water?

Answer 9

Their blubber layer and thermoregulation

Question 10

What are the suborders of cetaceans?

Answer 10

Mysticetes and Odontocetes

Question 11

What are examples of Mysticetes?

Answer 11

Baleen Whales: Blue, Grey, and Humpback Whales

Question 12

What are examples of Odontocetes?

Answer 12

Toothed Whales: Bottlenose dolphin and killer whales

Question 13

What is the scientific name for killer whales?

Answer 13

Orcinus Orca

Question 14

Rank Bottle nose dolphins, Sperm Whales, CA Sea lions, and humans by how deep they can dive.

Answer 14

Sperm Whale (1100 meters), Bottlenose Dolphins (500+ meters), CA Sea Lions (24-74 meters), and Humans (40 meters)

Question 15

What is the scientific name for Bottlenose dolphins?

Answer 15

Tursiops truncatus

Question 16

What is the scientific name for Humans?

Answer 16

Homo sapiens: wise man

Question 16

What is the scientific name for Sperm Whales?

Answer 16

Physeter macrocephalus

Question 17

How do the blowholes of marine mammals work?

Answer 17

They are closed except when opened by muscular action

Question 17

What are the 4 respiratory adaptations of Marine mammals?

Answer 17

1.) Blowhole
2.) Most breathe less frequently than terrestrial
mammals
3.) They are conscious breathers (not involuntary)
4.) Large lung size

Question 17

What is the scientific name for CA Sea Lions?

Answer 17

Zalophus californianus

Question 18

What are the “bends”?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

How do marine mammals breathe less frequently?

Answer 19

They take deeper breathes and exchange a greater % of lung air with each breath

Question 20

Explain how marine mammals are conscious breathers with an example.

Answer 20

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