TY - JOUR

T1 - Size Structures Sensory Hierarchy in Ocean Life

AU - Martens, Erik A.

AU - Wadhwa, Navish

AU - S. Jacobsen, Nis

AU - Lindemann, Christian

AU - Andersen, Ken Haste

AU - Visser, Andre

PY - 2015/9/22

Y1 - 2015/9/22

N2 - Life in the ocean is shaped by the trade-off between a need to encounter other organisms for feeding or mating, and to avoid encounters with predators. Avoiding or achieving encounters necessitates an efficient means of collecting the maximum possible information from the surroundings through the use of remote sensing. In this study, we explore how sensing mode and range depend on body size. We reveal a hierarchy of sensing modes (chemosensing, mechanosensing, vision, hearing, and echolocation) where body size determines the available battery of sensing modes and where larger body size means a longer sensing range. The 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 characterize the governing mechanisms and theoretically predict the body size limits for various sensory modes, which align very 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.

AB - Life in the ocean is shaped by the trade-off between a need to encounter other organisms for feeding or mating, and to avoid encounters with predators. Avoiding or achieving encounters necessitates an efficient means of collecting the maximum possible information from the surroundings through the use of remote sensing. In this study, we explore how sensing mode and range depend on body size. We reveal a hierarchy of sensing modes (chemosensing, mechanosensing, vision, hearing, and echolocation) where body size determines the available battery of sensing modes and where larger body size means a longer sensing range. The 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 characterize the governing mechanisms and theoretically predict the body size limits for various sensory modes, which align very 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.

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2015.1346

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2015.1346

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26378212

VL - 282

SP - 1

EP - 9

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8452

IS - 1815

ER -