Paolo S. Segre
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View article: “Why keep your mouth shut?” Inshore South African Bryde’s whales abort lunges within feeding dives
“Why keep your mouth shut?” Inshore South African Bryde’s whales abort lunges within feeding dives Open
Rorqual whales exhibit foraging plasticity to maximize their energy intake and reduce the cost of feeding manoeuvres. Bryde’s whales are known for their inter-population differences in the way they lunge, typified by acceleration, engulfme…
View article: Turning trade‐offs: hummingbird power reserves are used to decrease turning radius or increase turning velocity
Turning trade‐offs: hummingbird power reserves are used to decrease turning radius or increase turning velocity Open
Hummingbirds use their extreme maneuverability to defend territories and win competitions. In theory, a bird can tap into its muscular power reserves to perform complex maneuvers, with the size of the power reserves dictating the maximum m…
View article: Morphology of nares associated with stereo-olfaction in baleen whales
Morphology of nares associated with stereo-olfaction in baleen whales Open
The sensory mechanisms used by baleen whales (Mysticeti) for locating ephemeral, dense prey patches in vast marine habitats are poorly understood. Baleen whales have a functional olfactory system with paired rather than single blowholes (n…
View article: Spin-leap performance by cetaceans is influenced by moment of inertia
Spin-leap performance by cetaceans is influenced by moment of inertia Open
Cetaceans are capable of extraordinary locomotor behaviors in both water and air. Whales and dolphins can execute aerial leaps by swimming rapidly to the water surface to achieve an escape velocity. Previous research on spinner dolphins de…
View article: Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey
Cheap gulp foraging of a giga-predator enables efficient exploitation of sparse prey Open
The giant rorqual whales are believed to have a massive food turnover driven by a high-intake lunge feeding style aptly described as the world’s largest biomechanical action. This high-drag feeding behavior is thought to limit dive times a…
View article: High‐speed chases along the seafloor put Bryde's whales at risk of entanglement
High‐speed chases along the seafloor put Bryde's whales at risk of entanglement Open
Recent changes in the South African marine ecosystem and the introduction of an experimental octopus fishery have resulted in an unsustainably high rate of fatal Bryde's whale entanglements. Using suction‐cup attached bio‐loggers, we ident…
View article: Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations
Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations Open
Despite their enormous size, whales make their living as voracious predators. To catch their much smaller, more maneuverable prey, they have developed several unique locomotor strategies that require high energetic input, high mechanical p…
View article: Scaling of oscillatory kinematics and Froude efficiency in baleen whales
Scaling of oscillatory kinematics and Froude efficiency in baleen whales Open
High efficiency lunate-tail swimming with high-aspect-ratio lifting surfaces has evolved in many vertebrate lineages, from fish to cetaceans. Baleen whales (Mysticeti) are the largest swimming animals that exhibit this locomotor strategy, …
View article: Modelling short‐term energetic costs of sonar disturbance to cetaceans using high‐resolution foraging data
Modelling short‐term energetic costs of sonar disturbance to cetaceans using high‐resolution foraging data Open
Anthropogenic noise is a pervasive and increasing source of disturbance to wildlife. Marine mammals exhibit behavioural and physiological responses to naval sonar and other sound sources. The lost foraging opportunities and elevated locomo…
View article: Biomechanically distinct filter-feeding behaviors distinguish sei whales as a functional intermediate and ecologically flexible species
Biomechanically distinct filter-feeding behaviors distinguish sei whales as a functional intermediate and ecologically flexible species Open
With their ability to facultatively switch between filter-feeding modes, sei whales represent a functional and ecological intermediate in the transition between intermittent and continuous filter feeding. Morphologically resembling their l…
View article: Supplemental information for: "Modeling short-term energetic costs of sonar disturbance to cetaceans using high resolution foraging data"
Supplemental information for: "Modeling short-term energetic costs of sonar disturbance to cetaceans using high resolution foraging data" Open
All computational details for running the analysis and producing the figures and tables for "Modeling short-term energetic costs of sonar disturbance to cetaceans using high resolution foraging data". The necessary data are available on Dr…
View article: Diel differences in blue whale (<i>Balaenoptera musculus</i>) dive behavior increase nighttime risk of ship strikes in northern Chilean Patagonia
Diel differences in blue whale (<i>Balaenoptera musculus</i>) dive behavior increase nighttime risk of ship strikes in northern Chilean Patagonia Open
The northern Chilean Patagonia region is a key feeding ground and a nursing habitat in the southern hemisphere for blue whales ( Balaenoptera musculus ). From 2014 to 2019, during 6 separate research cruises, the dive behavior of 28 indivi…
View article: Individual variation and the biomechanics of maneuvering flight in hummingbirds
Individual variation and the biomechanics of maneuvering flight in hummingbirds Open
An animal's maneuverability will determine the outcome of many of its most important interactions. A common approach to studying maneuverability is to force the animal to perform a specific maneuver or to try to elicit maximal performance.…
View article: Unpredictable hummingbirds: Flight path entropy is constrained by speed and wing loading
Unpredictable hummingbirds: Flight path entropy is constrained by speed and wing loading Open
Unpredictable movement can provide an advantage when animals avoid predators and other threats. Previous studies have examined how varying environments can elicit unpredictable movement, but the intrinsic causes of complex, unpredictable b…
View article: Energetic and physical limitations on the breaching performance of large whales
Energetic and physical limitations on the breaching performance of large whales Open
The considerable power needed for large whales to leap out of the water may represent the single most expensive burst maneuver found in nature. However, the mechanics and energetic costs associated with the breaching behaviors of large wha…
View article: Lunge filter feeding biomechanics constrain rorqual foraging ecology across scale
Lunge filter feeding biomechanics constrain rorqual foraging ecology across scale Open
Fundamental scaling relationships influence the physiology of vital rates, which in turn shape the ecology and evolution of organisms. For diving mammals, benefits conferred by large body size include reduced transport costs and enhanced b…
View article: Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants
Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants Open
It's the prey that matters Although many people think of dinosaurs as being the largest creatures to have lived on Earth, the true largest known animal is still here today—the blue whale. How whales were able to become so large has long be…
View article: The advantages of diving deep: Fin whales quadruple their energy intake when targeting deep krill patches
The advantages of diving deep: Fin whales quadruple their energy intake when targeting deep krill patches Open
How predators maximize energetic gains while minimizing the costs associated with exploiting heterogeneous prey remains a difficult ecological principle to test in natural systems. Deep‐diving, air‐breathing predators face conflicting dema…
View article: Scaling of swimming performance in baleen whales
Scaling of swimming performance in baleen whales Open
The scale-dependence of locomotor factors have long been studied in comparative biomechanics, but remain poorly understood for animals at the upper extremes of body size. Rorqual baleen whales include the largest animals, but we lack basic…
View article: Body Flexibility Enhances Maneuverability in the World’s Largest Predator
Body Flexibility Enhances Maneuverability in the World’s Largest Predator Open
Blue whales are often characterized as highly stable, open-ocean swimmers who sacrifice maneuverability for long-distance cruising performance. However, recent studies have revealed that blue whales actually exhibit surprisingly complex un…
View article: Morphology, muscle capacity, skill, and maneuvering ability in hummingbirds
Morphology, muscle capacity, skill, and maneuvering ability in hummingbirds Open
Making quick turns Hummingbirds are well known for their impressive maneuvering during flight. Dakin et al. used a computer vision approach to characterize the details of flight in >200 hummingbirds from 25 species (see the Perspective by …
View article: Visual Sensory Signals Dominate Tactile Cues during Docked Feeding in Hummingbirds
Visual Sensory Signals Dominate Tactile Cues during Docked Feeding in Hummingbirds Open
Animals living in and interacting with natural environments must monitor and respond to changing conditions and unpredictable situations. Using information from multiple sensory systems allows them to modify their behavior in response to t…
View article: The biomechanical origin of extreme wing allometry in hummingbirds
The biomechanical origin of extreme wing allometry in hummingbirds Open
Flying animals of different masses vary widely in body proportions, but the functional implications of this variation are often unclear. We address this ambiguity by developing an integrative allometric approach, which we apply here to hum…
View article: Characterizing Chilean blue whale vocalizations with DTAGs: a test of using tag accelerometers for caller identification
Characterizing Chilean blue whale vocalizations with DTAGs: a test of using tag accelerometers for caller identification Open
Vocal behavior of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) in the Gulf of Corcovado, Chile, was analyzed using both audio and accelerometer data from digital acoustic recording tags (DTAGs). Over the course of three austral summers (2014, 2015,…
View article: Hummingbird maneuvering performance : aerodynamic mechanisms and physiological constraints
Hummingbird maneuvering performance : aerodynamic mechanisms and physiological constraints Open
The ability of a bird to maneuver in flight can determine its success at avoiding predators, catching prey, and other critical behaviors. Highly maneuverable animals, such as hummingbirds, are capable of diverse behaviors but it is unknown…
View article: Hummingbirds control turning velocity using body orientation and turning radius using asymmetrical wingbeat kinematics
Hummingbirds control turning velocity using body orientation and turning radius using asymmetrical wingbeat kinematics Open
Turning in flight requires reorientation of force, which birds, bats and insects accomplish either by shifting body position and total force in concert or by using left–right asymmetries in wingbeat kinematics. Although both mechanisms hav…
View article: Hydrodynamic properties of fin whale flippers predict maximum rolling performance
Hydrodynamic properties of fin whale flippers predict maximum rolling performance Open
Maneuverability is one of the most important and least understood aspects of animal locomotion. The hydrofoil-like flippers of cetaceans are thought to function as control surfaces that effect maneuvers, but quantitative tests of this hypo…