Diving is a critical behaviour of marine mammals, including belugas, which dive to forage and travel under Arctic sea ice. While the limitations of dive behaviour and physiological dive adaptations have been the focus of several studies, cellular adaptations, particularly those of the immune system, have been little considered. However, diving itself presents several challenges that can impact immune responses, leading to disease or injury. As beluga dive their behaviour changes in response to human activity or environmental shifts. It is necessary to better understand how the beluga’s immune system functions during diving. This review provides a brief overview of what is known about beluga’s diving behaviour and physiology and discusses the first efforts to understand the link between diving and health via immune function in belugas. This new area of research is an important consideration regarding potential sub-lethal impacts of a rapidly changing Arctic environment on beluga’s diving behaviour, health and disease susceptibility.

中文翻译：

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免疫反应和潜水：在不断变化的北极环境中保护白鲸（Delphinapterus leucas）

潜水是包括白鲸在内的海洋哺乳动物的一项重要行为，它们潜入北极海冰下觅食和旅行。虽然潜水行为和生理潜水适应的局限性一直是几项研究的重点，但细胞适应，尤其是免疫系统的适应，却很少被考虑。然而，潜水本身带来了一些挑战，这些挑战可能会影响免疫反应，导致疾病或受伤。当白鲸潜水时，它们的行为会随着人类活动或环境变化而变化。有必要更好地了解白鲸的免疫系统在潜水过程中的功能。这篇综述简要概述了对白鲸潜水行为和生理学的了解，并讨论了通过白鲸的免疫功能了解潜水与健康之间联系的首次努力。