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First published online October 18, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 4283-4294 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02503
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Water conservation in fasting northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris)

Christopher W. Lester* and Daniel P. Costa

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA


Figure 1
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  		Fig. 1. Diagram of open-flow respirometry setup used in measuring respiratory evaporative water loss (REWL). Components are not drawn to scale. The fiberglass board (A) used in the experiment was fitted with sloping side-boards and carrying handles, which have been omitted from the diagram for the sake of simplicity. The other components were: B, PVC collar; C, Teflon funnel; D, 1 m-long Teflon tube; E, Singer dry gas meter; F, vacuum pump; G, a sample line which carried a fraction of the incurrent air to a relative humidity analyzer (H); I, oxygen sensor; J, air flow controller for sample line; K, analog-to-digital data converter; and L, computer used to record output. Solid lines (between H,I,K,L) represent data cables. For further details see Materials and methods.

 

Figure 2
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  		Fig. 2. (A) Water loss ratios plotted against apnea duration for all seals. Apnea duration is a highly significant contributor to the ANCOVA model for respiratory evaporative water loss/metabolic water production (REWL/MWP; F=65, P <<0.001). (B) Metabolic rate versus apnea duration. (C) Total respiratory evaporative water loss (EW_Total) plotted against total oxygen consumption (O2_Con). Each data point denotes a single breathing interval (apnea + recovery, or W-phase eupnea with no preceding apnea, as defined in Materials and methods), and the values for water loss and oxygen consumption are the amounts lost or consumed during that discrete interval. In the analysis, breathing intervals in which apnea duration was less than 1 min were considered W-phase breathing; an apnea duration of 0 min indicates a W-phase breathing interval in which no apnea took place.

 




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