Verified Document

Sonar Injuring Marine Mammals Term Paper

Related Topics:

Marine Mammals The author of this response has been asked to answer to a fairly specific question. The question at hand is whether marine mammals can suffer from decompression sickness. If they can, the author of this report is to confirm this. The author would also need to confirm under what circumstances the marine mammals would suffer from the sickness. Only scientific papers and journal offerings will be used to answer this question.

First off, the answer to the question at hand is an absolute "yes." Marine mammals can indeed incur decompression sickness and this would include any mammals who engage in diving. It was once thought that marine mammals were generally immune to decompression sickness but more recent findings have found this to be untrue (Hooker et al., 2012). This phenomenon has been verified through the use of diagnostic imaging in creatures like cetaceans and pinnipeds (Dennison, Fahlman & Moore, 2012). A real-world example of this examination was done to a sea lion in California. That sea lion was found to have hypermetric ataxia and bilateral negative menace reflexes. The injuries happened after a dive of about 150 meters. As with humans, the damage was likely caused by ascending from the dive too quickly. However, it was absolutely due to a quick and sudden change in ambient pressure around the animal (Van Bonn et al.,...

However, there are others that assert that sonar activity from naval vessels causes the damage as well, or perhaps instead of simple diving and ascending (Fahlman, Tyack, Miller & Kvadsheim, 2014). However, there is far from a consensus as to what is really causing the damaged and this even includes the United States Navy and their studies on the use of sonor and the potential damage it wreaks (Dalton, 2006).
References

Dalton, R. (2006). Panel quits in row over sonar damage. Nature, 439(7075), 376-377.

Dennison, S., Fahlman, A., & Moore, M. (2012). The use of diagnostic imaging for identifying abnormal gas accumulations in cetaceans and pinnipeds. Frontiers In Physiology, 31-25.

doi:10.3389/fphys.2012.00181

Fahlman, A., Tyack, P. L., Miller, P. O., & Kvadsheim, P. H. (2014). How man-made interference might cause gas bubble emboli in deep diving whales. Frontiers In Physiology, 4/51-6. doi:10.3389/fphys.2014.00013

Hooker, S., Fahlman, A., Moore, M., Aguilar de Soto, N. & Bernaldo de Quiros, Y. (2012).

Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals. Proceedings Of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1731),

1041-1050. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.2088

Van Bonn, W., Montie,…

Sources used in this document:
Van Bonn, W., Montie, E., Dennison, S., Pussini, N., Cook, P., Greig, D., & ... Gulland, F.

(2011). Evidence of injury caused by gas bubbles in a live marine mammal: barotrauma in a California sea lion Zalophus californianus. Diseases Of Aquatic Organisms, 96(2),

89-96. doi:10.3354/dao02376
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Oceanography What Were the Significant
Words: 1574 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Where, sharp increases or decreases in the temperature could have an effect on the eco system. As any one of the vital pieces of the food system and their way of life; would have ripple effects based on slight changes in temperature. This has the possibility of setting off a mass extinction. (Garrison, 2008) The obvious effect on land would be that humans depend on the ocean as a source

Oceanography Comparing Approaches to the Carbon-Based Productivity...
Words: 379 Length: 1 Document Type: Term Paper

Oceanography Comparing Approaches to the Carbon-Based Productivity Model: Assessing the Sensitivity of Remote Sensing-Derived Phytoplankton Productivity to Mixed Layer Depth. The purpose of this review is to compare approaches or variations of approaches that are being used to assess the sensitivity of phytoplankton productivity to mixed layer depth. The challenge to clarifying controls on primary productivity and the related responses and feedbacks is a key objective of research on global change. In order

Oceanography Diurnal Tides Are the Daily Ones,
Words: 376 Length: 1 Document Type: Essay

Oceanography Diurnal tides are the daily ones, and have a single high tide and low tide, respectively, each day. Semidiurnal tides have two high tides and low tides each lunar day, both of which are always at the same height. Mixed tides are when there's two high tides and two low tides, but the high tides are at different heights and the low tides are at different heights. Ocean depth and rotational

Oceanography Oceanic Tides Differ Greatly
Words: 1011 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

On January 11 at 3:00 AM, high tide reaches its first peak at 31.248 feet at high tide. The corresponding low tide of this same day hits at 10 am at around 3.517 feet. There is a dramatic difference between the two tides occurring twice a day. On that same day, the second round high tide is at a height of 29.588 at 5 pm, a lesser degree than

Oceanography What New Phase of
Words: 879 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Calculate the distance from the mid-ocean ridge to each of the sites The distance from the middle of the ocean ridge each of the different sites would include: 878 km for site 14; 556 km for site 15; 300 km for site 16; 711 km for site 17; 556 km for site 18; 1189 km for site 19 and 1522 km for site 20. How many kilometers correspond to 1o? 900,000 km. Where is

Oceanography Identifying the Current Location
Words: 2030 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

They are responsible for transporting the heat from tropics to mid-latitudes. On the other hand, speed is said to be lower in the case of eastern currents (e.g. California Current) which transport cold water to the tropics where this is heated and pushed back to the poles by the western streams. Consequently, ocean surface currents help the Sun energy spread from the equator to the poles ((http://science.hq.nasa.gov/oceans/physical/OSC.html). Swells, breaking surf,

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now