Foraging by deep-diving birds is not constrained by an aerobic diving limit: a model of avian depth-dependent diving metabolic rate

The theoretical aerobic diving limit (tADL) specifies the duration of a dive after which oxygen reserves available for diving are depleted. The tADL has been calculated by dividing the available oxygen stores by the diving metabolic rate (DMR). Contrary to diving mammals, most diving birds examined to date exceed the tADL by a large margin. This discrepancy between observation and theory has engendered two alternative explanations suggesting that dive duration is extended either anaerobically or by depressing aerobic metabolism. Current formulations of tADL uncritically assume that DMR is independent of depth. However, diving birds differ from other vertebrate divers by having a larger respiratory system volume and by retaining air in their plumage while diving, thereby elevating buoyancy. Because air compresses with depth, diving power requirement decreases with depth. Following this principle, we modeled DMR to depth for Adelie and little penguins and reformulated the tADL accordingly. The model's results suggest that < approximately 5% of natural dives by Adelie penguins exceed the reformulated tADL(d), or maximal aerobic depth, and none in the more buoyant little penguin. These data suggest that, for both small and large species, deep diving birds rarely if ever exceed tADL(d).