title: Size structures sensory hierarchy in ocean life.
abstract: Survival in aquatic environments requires organisms to have effective means of collecting information from their surroundings through various sensing strategies. In this study, we explore how sensing mode and range depend on body size. We find a hierarchy of sensing modes determined by body size. With increasing body size, a larger battery of modes becomes available (chemosensing, mechanosensing, vision, hearing and echolocation, in that order) while the sensing range also increases. This 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 theoretically predict the body size limits for various sensory modes, which align 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.
authors.affiliation: VKR Centre for Ocean Life, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark Department of Biomedical Sciences, Copenhagen University, Blegdamsvej 3, Copenhagen 2200, Denmark erik.martens@ds.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Erik A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Martens
authors.affiliation: VKR Centre for Ocean Life, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby 2800, Denmark nawa@fysik.dtu.dk.
authors.forename: Navish
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wadhwa
authors.affiliation: VKR Centre for Ocean Life, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nis S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lindemann
authors.affiliation: VKR Centre for Ocean Life, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ken H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: VKR Centre for Ocean Life, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Jægersborg Alle 1, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Visser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000145:classification*; D049628:Body Size; D004455:Echolocation; D006309:Hearing; D008465:Mechanoreceptors; D012677:Sensation; D012903:Smell; D013649:Taste; D014785:Vision, Ocular
keywords: body size; fluid physics; ocean life; sensing modes; sensing range; traits