Detection of hydrodynamic stimuli by the postcranial body of Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris)

Gaspard, Joseph C.; Bauer, Gordon B.; Mann, David A.; Boerner, Katharine; Denum, Laura; Frances, Candice; Reep, Roger L.

doi:10.1007/s00359-016-1142-8

Cited by 18 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The mammalian vibrissae are exquisitely sensitive tactile sensors, generally arranged in an array of rows and columns across the face [ 20 ]. The whiskers serve a multitude of behavioral functions across species, including navigation and climbing [ 21 – 22 ], wake following [ 23 – 24 ], anemotaxis [ 25 ], foraging [ 26 – 27 ], predation [ 28 – 29 ], and social interactions [ 30 ]. However, all previous studies that have examined the arrangement of whiskers on the face have quantified array morphology in terms of the discretized row and column positions of the whiskers [ 31 – 33 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the three-dimensional facial morphology of the laboratory rat with a focus on the vibrissae

et al. 2018

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The morphology of an animal’s face will have large effects on the sensory information it can acquire. Here we quantify the arrangement of cranial sensory structures of the rat, with special emphasis on the mystacial vibrissae (whiskers). Nearly all mammals have vibrissae, which are generally arranged in rows and columns across the face. The vibrissae serve a wide variety of important behavioral functions, including navigation, climbing, wake following, anemotaxis, and social interactions. To date, however, there are few studies that compare the morphology of vibrissal arrays across species, or that describe the arrangement of the vibrissae relative to other facial sensory structures. The few studies that do exist have exploited the whiskers’ grid-like arrangement to quantify array morphology in terms of row and column identity. However, relying on whisker identity poses a challenge for comparative research because different species have different numbers and arrangements of whiskers. The present work introduces an approach to quantify vibrissal array morphology regardless of the number of rows and columns, and to quantify the array’s location relative to other sensory structures. We use the three-dimensional locations of the whisker basepoints as fundamental parameters to generate equations describing the length, curvature, and orientation of each whisker. Results show that in the rat, whisker length varies exponentially across the array, and that a hard limit on intrinsic curvature constrains the whisker height-to-length ratio. Whiskers are oriented to “fan out” approximately equally in dorsal-ventral and rostral-caudal directions. Quantifying positions of the other sensory structures relative to the whisker basepoints shows remarkable alignment to the somatosensory cortical homunculus, an alignment that would not occur for other choices of coordinate systems (e.g., centered on the midpoint of the eyes). We anticipate that the quantification of facial sensory structures, including the vibrissae, will ultimately enable cross-species comparisons of multi-modal sensing volumes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the three-dimensional facial morphology of the laboratory rat with a focus on the vibrissae

et al. 2018

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“…Manatees’ sense of touch is highly sensitive with Weber fractions between 0.025 and 0.14 ( Bachteler and Dehnhardt, 1999 ; Bauer et al, 2012 ). At low frequencies, they can detect hydrodynamic particle movement under a micron with an order of magnitude greater sensitivity rostrally ( Gaspard et al, 2013 , 2017 ).…”

Section: Sensation and Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relevance of Ecological Transitions to Intelligence in Marine Mammals

2020

Self Cite

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Macphail's comparative approach to intelligence focused on associative processes, an orientation inconsistent with more multifaceted lay and scientific understandings of the term. His ultimate emphasis on associative processes indicated few differences in intelligence among vertebrates. We explore options more attuned to common definitions by considering intelligence in terms of richness of representations of the world, the interconnectivity of those representations, the ability to flexibly change those connections, and knowledge. We focus on marine mammals, represented by the amphibious pinnipeds and the aquatic cetaceans and sirenians, as animals that transitioned from a terrestrial existence to an aquatic one, experiencing major changes in ecological pressures. They adapted with morphological transformations related to streamlining the body, physiological changes in respiration and thermoregulation, and sensory/perceptual changes, including echolocation capabilities and diminished olfaction in many cetaceans, both in-air and underwater visual focus, and enhanced senses of touch in pinnipeds and sirenians. Having a terrestrial foundation on which aquatic capacities were overlaid likely affected their cognitive abilities, especially as a new reliance on sound and touch, and the need to surface to breath changed their interactions with the world. Vocal and behavioral observational learning capabilities in the wild and in laboratory experiments suggest versatility in group coordination. Empirical reports on aspects of intelligent behavior like problem-solving, spatial learning, and concept learning by various species of cetaceans and pinnipeds suggest rich cognitive abilities. The high energy demands of the brain suggest that brain-intelligence relationships might be fruitful areas for study when specific hypotheses are considered, e.g., brain mapping indicates hypertrophy of specific sensory areas in marine mammals. Modern neuroimaging techniques provide ways to study neural connectivity, and the patterns of connections between sensory, motor, and other cortical regions provide a biological framework for exploring how animals represent and flexibly use information in navigating and learning about their environment. At this stage of marine mammal research, it would still be prudent to follow Macphail's caution that it is premature to make strong comparative statements without more empirical evidence, but an approach that includes learning more about how animals flexibly link information across multiple representations could be a productive way of comparing species by allowing them to use their specific strengths within comparative tasks.

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“…Therefore, sensory physiology remains of interest, and recent research in this subdiscipline covers vision ( (2017) expanded our understanding of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) vocalizations. In addition, research on tactile abilities (Pacheco-Cobos et al 2003;Gaspard et al 2017), electroreception (Ashwell and Hardman 2012;Czech-Damal et al 2013), and echolocation (Gonzalez-Terrazas et al 2016;Luís et al 2016) are also producing new insights.…”

Section: Life Stylesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecophysiology of mammals

Tomasi

Anderson

Garland

2019

Journal of Mammalogy

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Ecophysiology is a relatively recent interdisciplinary field, and although active prior to the 75th anniversary of the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM), it has grown in breadth since then. This growth is in part a result of advances in technology that have reduced the size and improved the portability of key instrumentation, and also made sequencing of proteins and nucleic acids faster and less expensive. Here, we demonstrate the breadth of recent research on the ecophysiology of mammals, quantify the research activity of the past 25 years, and consider future research needs. Some of the most active areas of research have related to maintenance of homeostasis, associations of physiological traits with the evolution of varied life styles and life histories, and reproductive physiology. Key findings involve allometry and scaling, energetics and thermoregulation, phenotypic plasticity and epigenetics, and the importance of microbial symbionts. With respect to predictions of trends in mammalian ecophysiology, the strongest themes relate to conservation biology, in large part related to rapid climate change, habitat destruction, and other anthropogenic factors. How our mammalian fauna adapts (or not) to these changes will be of great interest, and has the potential to affect the science of mammalogy in the future. La ecofisiología es un campo interdisciplinario relativamente reciente, y a pesar de que era un área vigorosa antes del septuagésimo quinto aniversario de la Sociedad Americana de Mastozoología (ASM), desde entonces ha crecido en envergadura. Este crecimiento es en parte el resultado de los avances tecnológicos en donde el tamaño de los instrumentos se ha reducido facilitando de ese modo la portabilidad de instrumentos claves, y al mismo tiempo, permitiendo que la secuenciación de proteínas y ácidos nucleicos sea más rápida y menos costosa. En este trabajo, se demuestra el alcance de la investigación reciente sobre la ecofisiología de los mamíferos, se cuantifica la actividad científica de las investigaciones de las últimas dos décadas y se hacen predicciones para los próximos 25 años. Algunas de las áreas más activas de investigación se han asociado con el mantenimiento de la homeostasis, la relación entre los rasgos fisiológicos con la evolución de diferentes estilos e historias de vida, y la fisiología reproductiva. Los hallazgos clave incluyen la alometría y la escala, la energética y la termorregulación, la plasticidad fenotípica y la epigenética, y la importancia de los simbiontes microbianos. Con respecto a las predicciones sobre las tendencias de la ecofisiología de mamíferos, los temas más comunes están relacionados con la biología de la conservación, en su mayor parte a consecuencia del rápido cambio climático, la destrucción del hábitat y otros factores antropogénicos. La forma en que nuestra fauna de mamíferos se adapta (o no) a estos cambios, a nivel fisiológico y de otro tipo, será de gran interés en el futuro, teniendo el potencial de influir a la ciencia de la mastozoología.

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Detection of hydrodynamic stimuli by the postcranial body of Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris)

Cited by 18 publications

References 55 publications

Quantifying the three-dimensional facial morphology of the laboratory rat with a focus on the vibrissae

Quantifying the three-dimensional facial morphology of the laboratory rat with a focus on the vibrissae

The Relevance of Ecological Transitions to Intelligence in Marine Mammals

Ecophysiology of mammals

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