The fact that women, as a general rule, are more air efficient at the same mass is generally well known in diving.
I'm highly air efficient for a man, but only moderately more air efficient than the average of the women I've dove with (as in I've only dove with a couple men as air efficient as I am, but 20-30% of the women I've dove with are MORE air efficient than I am, sample somewhere north of 200 total with a roughly 33% female population).
I can't speak to the rest of the paper's conclusions.
I'm highly air efficient for a man, but only moderately more air efficient than the average of the women I've dove with (as in I've only dove with a couple men as air efficient as I am, but 20-30% of the women I've dove with are MORE air efficient than I am, sample somewhere north of 200 total with a roughly 33% female population).
I can't speak to the rest of the paper's conclusions.