Southwood AL, Andrews RD, Lutcavage ME, Paladino FV, West NH, George RH, Jones DR
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4, Edgerton Research Laboratory, NEA, Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110-3399, USA, Department of Biology, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN 4680.
J Exp Biol. 1999 May;202 (Pt 9):1115-25. doi: 10.1242/jeb.202.9.1115.
Heart rates and diving behavior of leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) were monitored at sea during the internesting interval. Instruments that recorded the electrocardiogram and the depth and duration of dives were deployed on six female leatherback turtles as they laid eggs at Playa Grande, Costa Rica. Turtles dived continually for the majority of the internesting interval and spent 57-68 % of the time at sea submerged. Mean dive depth was 19+/-1 m (mean +/- s.d.) and the mean dive duration was 7.4+/-0.6 min. Heart rate declined immediately upon submergence and continued to fall during descent. All turtles showed an increase in heart rate before surfacing. The mean heart rate during dives of 17.4+/-0.9 beats min-1 (mean +/- s.d.) was significantly lower than the mean heart rate at the surface of 24.9+/-1.3 beats min-1 (P<0.05). Instantaneous heart rates as low as 1.05 beats min-1 were recorded during a 34 min dive. The mean heart rate over the entire dive cycle (dive + succeeding surface interval; 19.4+/-1.3 beats min-1) was more similar to the heart rate during diving than to the heart rate at the surface. Although dive and surface heart rates were significantly different from each other, heart rates during diving were 70 % of heart rates at the surface, showing that leatherback turtles do not experience a dramatic bradycardia during routine diving.
在筑巢间期对棱皮龟（蠵龟）的心率和潜水行为进行了海上监测。当六只雌性棱皮龟在哥斯达黎加的格兰德海滩产卵时，部署了记录心电图以及潜水深度和时长的仪器。在筑巢间期的大部分时间里，海龟持续潜水，在海上潜水的时间占57%至68%。平均潜水深度为19±1米（平均值±标准差），平均潜水时长为7.4±0.6分钟。海龟一潜入水中心率就立即下降，在下沉过程中继续降低。所有海龟在浮出水面之前心率都会上升。潜水时的平均心率为17.4±0.9次/分钟（平均值±标准差），显著低于水面时的平均心率24.9±1.3次/分钟（P<0.05）。在一次34分钟的潜水中记录到的瞬时心率低至1.05次/分钟。整个潜水周期（潜水+随后的水面间隔期）的平均心率为19.4±1.3次/分钟，与潜水时的心率比与水面时的心率更相似。尽管潜水时和水面时的心率有显著差异，但潜水时的心率是水面时心率的70%，这表明棱皮龟在常规潜水过程中不会出现剧烈的心动过缓。
