Me and my co-authors are pleased to share our recent publication with you:
Fahlman, A., Brodsky, M., Miedler, S., Dennison, S., Ivančić, M., Levine, G., Rocho-Levine, J., Manley, M., Rocabert, J., Borque Espinosa, A., 2019. Ventilation and gas exchange before and after voluntary static surface breath-holds in clinically healthy bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus. J. Exp. Biol. 222, 1-9. doi: 10.1242/jeb.192211

The article describes changes in lung function and end-expired O2 following status surface apneas up to 5 min in the bottle nose dolphin.

A B S T R A C T
We measured respiratory flow (V̇), breathing frequency (fR), tidal volume (VT), breath duration and end-expired O2 content in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) before and after static surface breath-holds ranging from 34 to 292 s. There was considerable variation in the end-expired O2, VT and fR following a breath-hold. The analysis suggests that the dolphins attempt to minimize recovery following a dive by altering VT and fR to rapidly replenish the O2 stores. For the first breath following a surface breath-hold, the end-expired O2decreased with dive duration, while VT and fR increased. Throughout the recovery period, end-expired O2 increased while the respiratory effort (VT, fR) decreased. We propose that the dolphins alter respiratory effort following a breath-hold according to the reduction in end-expired O2 levels, allowing almost complete recovery after 1.2 min.

The article can be found at: