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Size structures sensory hierarchy in ocean life

Martens, Erik A. LU orcid ; Wadhwa, Navish ; Jacobsen, Nis S. ; Lindemann, Christian ; Andersen, Ken H. and Visser, André (2015) In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282(1815).
Abstract

Survival in aquatic environments requires organisms to have effective means of collecting information from their surroundings through various sensing strategies. In this study, we explore how sensing mode and range depend on body size. We find a hierarchy of sensing modes determined by body size. With increasing body size, a larger battery of modes becomes available (chemosensing, mechanosensing, vision, hearing and echolocation, in that order) while the sensing range also increases. This size-dependent hierarchy and the transitions between primary sensory modes are explained on the grounds of limiting factors set by physiology and the physical laws governing signal generation, transmission and reception. We theoretically predict the... (More)

Survival in aquatic environments requires organisms to have effective means of collecting information from their surroundings through various sensing strategies. In this study, we explore how sensing mode and range depend on body size. We find a hierarchy of sensing modes determined by body size. With increasing body size, a larger battery of modes becomes available (chemosensing, mechanosensing, vision, hearing and echolocation, in that order) while the sensing range also increases. This size-dependent hierarchy and the transitions between primary sensory modes are explained on the grounds of limiting factors set by physiology and the physical laws governing signal generation, transmission and reception. We theoretically predict the body size limits for various sensory modes, which align well with size ranges found in literature. The treatise of all ocean life, from unicellular organisms to whales, demonstrates how body size determines available sensing modes, and thereby acts as a major structuring factor of aquatic life.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Body size, Fluid physics, Ocean life, Sensing modes, Sensing range, Traits
in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
volume
282
issue
1815
article number
20151346
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:26378212
  • scopus:84942024087
ISSN
0962-8452
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2015.1346
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Copyright: Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
id
dc0305af-17cc-493b-904b-20e183685f2c
date added to LUP
2021-03-19 21:27:42
date last changed
2024-02-20 02:04:32
@article{dc0305af-17cc-493b-904b-20e183685f2c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Survival in aquatic environments requires organisms to have effective means of collecting information from their surroundings through various sensing strategies. In this study, we explore how sensing mode and range depend on body size. We find a hierarchy of sensing modes determined by body size. With increasing body size, a larger battery of modes becomes available (chemosensing, mechanosensing, vision, hearing and echolocation, in that order) while the sensing range also increases. This size-dependent hierarchy and the transitions between primary sensory modes are explained on the grounds of limiting factors set by physiology and the physical laws governing signal generation, transmission and reception. We theoretically predict the body size limits for various sensory modes, which align well with size ranges found in literature. The treatise of all ocean life, from unicellular organisms to whales, demonstrates how body size determines available sensing modes, and thereby acts as a major structuring factor of aquatic life.</p>}},
  author       = {{Martens, Erik A. and Wadhwa, Navish and Jacobsen, Nis S. and Lindemann, Christian and Andersen, Ken H. and Visser, André}},
  issn         = {{0962-8452}},
  keywords     = {{Body size; Fluid physics; Ocean life; Sensing modes; Sensing range; Traits}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{1815}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Size structures sensory hierarchy in ocean life}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1346}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rspb.2015.1346}},
  volume       = {{282}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}