IB Biology HL B3.3.10 Hl Swimming Adaptations in Marine Mammals Questions

Explain how streamlined bodies, flippers and tail flukes support movement, while blubber, oxygen stores and breath-holding help marine mammals swim and dive.

Exam points

Relate a streamlined body and buoyancy or blubber-associated streamlining to reduced drag and efficient swimming in marine mammals.
Explain how flippers steer or propel and tail flukes moving up and down provide propulsion in water.
Explain diving adaptations including breath-holding or closed airways and increased oxygen storage that support prolonged dives and surface breathing.

[Maximum number: 1]

Pinnipeds are marine mammals with fins or flippers and include fur seals and sea lions. Some pinnipeds forage for prey near the surface (epipelagic) while others forage on the bottom of the sea (benthic). The graph shows the foraging behaviour and the relative time spent diving while at sea for five pinniped species.

Figure for Question IB Biology HL B3.3.10 Hl Swimming Adaptations in Marine Mammals Questions question 1 — IB Biology HL

Different species are able to store different amounts of oxygen in their muscle tissues in preparation for diving. The graph shows the relationship between typical dive duration and oxygen storage in tissues in the same five species.

State the oxygen stores for a New Zealand sea lion for a dive of 3.4 minutes.
$\mathrm{cm}^{3} \mathrm{~kg}^{-1}$

$46\left(\mathrm{~cm}^{3} \mathrm{~kg}^{-1}\right)$ (accept answers in the range of $45.5\left(\mathrm{~cm}^{3} \mathrm{~kg}^{-1}\right)$ to $47\left(\mathrm{~cm}^{3} \mathrm{~kg}^{-1}\right)$ )

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IB Biology HL B3.3.10 Hl Swimming Adaptations in Marine Mammals Questions question 1