The sensitivity analysis suggests that both PA,S and PD,S are
important in predicting how a closed respiratory system behaves
under pressure. The results suggest that as alveoli become less
compliant and the trachea becomes more compressible our prediction
of depth for lung collapse varies further from the balloon/pipe
model (Fig. 3). For the base model, Pcoll > 2 times larger than that
of the balloon/pipe model. This suggests that to further our understanding
of how a marine mammal’s respiratory system behaves
under pressure future studies should be aimed at measuring the
structural properties of the alveoli and dead space.