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Research Article
Energetic demands of immature sea otters from birth to weaning: implications for maternal costs, reproductive behavior and population-level trends
N. M. Thometz, M. T. Tinker, M. M. Staedler, K. A. Mayer, T. M. Williams
Journal of Experimental Biology 2014 217: 2053-2061; doi: 10.1242/jeb.099739
N. M. Thometz
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California at Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
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  • For correspondence: nthometz@ucsc.edu
M. T. Tinker
2U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Ocean Health, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
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M. M. Staedler
3Monterey Bay Aquarium, 886 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93950, USA
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K. A. Mayer
3Monterey Bay Aquarium, 886 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93950, USA
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T. M. Williams
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California at Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
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Abstract

Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) have the highest mass-specific metabolic rate of any marine mammal, which is superimposed on the inherently high costs of reproduction and lactation in adult females. These combined energetic demands have been implicated in the poor body condition and increased mortality of female sea otters nearing the end of lactation along the central California coast. However, the cost of lactation is unknown and currently cannot be directly measured for this marine species in the wild. Here, we quantified the energetic demands of immature sea otters across five developmental stages as a means of assessing the underlying energetic challenges associated with pup rearing that may contribute to poor maternal condition. Activity-specific metabolic rates, daily activity budgets and field metabolic rates (FMR) were determined for each developmental stage. Mean FMR of pre-molt pups was 2.29±0.81 MJ day−1 and increased to 6.16±2.46 and 7.41±3.17 MJ day−1 in post-molt pups and dependent immature animals, respectively. Consequently, daily energy demands of adult females increase 17% by 3 weeks postpartum and continue increasing to 96% above pre-pregnancy levels by the average age of weaning. Our results suggest that the energetics of pup rearing superimposed on small body size, marine living and limited on-board energetic reserves conspire to make female sea otters exceptionally vulnerable to energetic shortfalls. By controlling individual fitness, maternal behavior and pup provisioning strategies, this underlying metabolic challenge appears to be a major factor influencing current population trends in southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis).

FOOTNOTES

  • Author contributions

    N.M.T. and T.M.W. conceived and designed the captive experiments. M.M.S. and M.T.T. conceived and designed the field experiments. N.M.T. and K.A.M. performed captive experiments. M.M.S. conducted and oversaw field observations. N.M.T., M.T.T. and M.M.S. analyzed the data. N.M.T. wrote the manuscript with editorial advice provided by all authors.

  • Competing interests

    The authors declare no competing financial interests.

  • Funding

    Funding was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center; the Office of Naval Research [N00014-08-1-1273 to T.M.W.]; the Otter Cove Foundation; and the Dr Earl A. & Ethyl M. Myers Oceanographic and Marine Trust [to N.M.T.].

  • © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
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Keywords

  • Energetics
  • Enhydra lutris
  • Maternal investment
  • Ontogeny
  • Oxygen consumption

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Research Article
Energetic demands of immature sea otters from birth to weaning: implications for maternal costs, reproductive behavior and population-level trends
N. M. Thometz, M. T. Tinker, M. M. Staedler, K. A. Mayer, T. M. Williams
Journal of Experimental Biology 2014 217: 2053-2061; doi: 10.1242/jeb.099739
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Research Article
Energetic demands of immature sea otters from birth to weaning: implications for maternal costs, reproductive behavior and population-level trends
N. M. Thometz, M. T. Tinker, M. M. Staedler, K. A. Mayer, T. M. Williams
Journal of Experimental Biology 2014 217: 2053-2061; doi: 10.1242/jeb.099739

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