Life Under Water: Physiological Adaptations to Diving and Living at Sea

Abstract

This review covers the field of diving physiology by following a chronological approach and focusing heavily on marine mammals. Because the study of modern diving physiology can be traced almost entirely to the work of Laurence Irving in the 1930s, this particular field of physiology is different than most in that it did not derive from multiple laboratories working at many locations or on different aspects of a similar problem. Because most of the physiology principles still used today were first formulated by Irving, it is important to the study of this field that the sequence of thought is examined as a progression of theory. The review covers the field in roughly decadal blocks and traces ideas as they were first suggested, tested, modified and in some cases, abandoned. Because diving physiology has also been extremely dependent on new technologies used in the development of diving recorders, a chronological approach fits well with advances in electronics and mechanical innovation. There are many species that dive underwater as part of their natural behavior, but it is mainly the marine mammals (seals, sea lions, and whales) that demonstrate both long duration and dives to great depth. There have been many studies on other diving species including birds, snakes, small aquatic mammals, and humans. This work examines these other diving species as appropriate and a listing of reviews and relevant literature on these groups is included at the end. © 2012 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 2:1889‐1919, 2012.

Forehead Stimulation Decreases Volume of the Infarction Triggered by Permanent Occlusion of Middle Cerebral Artery in Rats

“…Diving response consists of highly coordinated increase in AP, decrease in cutaneous blood flow, expiratory apnea, bradycardia and increase of cerebral blood flow (CBF) [11,19]. Diving response seems to be present not only in humans or diving mammals but in all vertebrates [13,20,21]. As diving response allows animals to survive in anoxic conditions longer than expected, it was called by Wolf oxygen-conserving reflex [22].…”

View From Below: Inferring Behavior and Physiology of Southern Ocean Marine Predators From Dive Telemetry

“…The foraging strategies adopted by marine predators are not only dictated by prey abundance and distribution but also by intrinsic factors, such as oxygen stores, metabolism, body size, and age (Kooyman and Ponganis, 1998;Costa, 2007;Ponganis et al, 2009;Ponganis, 2011;Castellini, 2012;Elliott, 2016). Relatively few data have been collected on the at-sea metabolism of marine birds and mammals given the practical difficulties of collecting respiration and activity data in the field.…”

“…This section discusses how the use of classic dive data information provides valuable insights into dive energetics and the physiological adaptations of SO marine animals, drawing also upon examples from temperate species in a few cases. Castellini (2012) and Ponganis and Kooyman (2000) reviewed the physiological adaptations among marine mammals and polar seabirds, respectively. We provide a summary here as a base for the following discussion.…”

The Oxygen-Conserving Potential of the Trigeminocardiac Reflex

“…2,[13][14][15][16][17] Summarily, DR activation results in decreased oxygen consumption, helping to prolong the duration of the dive. 2,[13][14][15][16][17] Summarily, DR activation results in decreased oxygen consumption, helping to prolong the duration of the dive.…”