Dear All, We are pleased to announce that the following paper has been published which may be of interest to people interested in the effect of man-made disturbances on marine mammals (cetaceans). This is a different initiative of the journal Frontiers, a European open access journal which is growing rapidly. The paper is a review/revision of some work we have done in an attempt to define risk of gas emboli and decompression sickness in large whales exposed to sound. It is written for a younger audience and something we wanted to share.
Fahlman, A., Tyack, P. L., Miller, P. J. M. and Kvadsheim, P. H. (2017). Human Disturbances Might Cause Dangerous Gas Bubbles to Form in Deep-Diving Whales. Frontiers Young Minds 5, 62. DOI:10.3389/frym.2017.00062 URL: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00062 Abstract: Over millions of years, whales have evolved for diving in the ocean to obtain food while holding their breath. Because whales are air-breathing mammals, they eventually have to return to the ocean surface to get more oxygen. However, the air in the lungs also contains nitrogen, a gas that is taken up but not used by the body. As the whale dives deeper, the pressure from the water increases and more nitrogen is taken up by blood circulating from the lungs to other tissues. When the whale returns to the surface and the water pressure decreases, the nitrogen gas is returned to the lungs. If the whale spends too much time in the zone where nitrogen is taken up at elevated pressure, bubbles may form when the whale returns to the surface; similar to what happens when you open a soda bottle. The bubbles can cause many different problems inside the whale’s body and even cause death. Whales normally do not experience problems caused by bubbles. In recent years, scientists have discovered that when humans disturb whales, their dive behavior or their bodily functions may change in ways that increase the risk of formation of bubbles that could cause problems and death. A better understanding of whale behavior and how the nitrogen bubbles form may help scientist develop tools that can prevent these problems in whales. Please email me if you would like a PDF copy of the paper or if you have any questions regarding the work. Best regards, Andreas
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