In Memory: Nélio Baptista Barros, 1960-2010 Dr. Nélio Baptista Barros passed away on Feb 10, 2010 in Tillamook, Oregon after a battle with cancer. He was born in Vila Velha, ES, Brazil on Jan 23, 1960. He received his BSc in Biological Oceanography in 1982 (Brazil) and then moved to the United States where he received his Masters degree from Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami in Biological Oceanography in July 1987, and earned his PhD from RSMAS under Dr. Dan Odell in 1993. He worked as a marine mammal consultant at SeaWorld in Orlando during 1991-1999, and as a Research Biologist and Senior Research Biologist at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute during 1994-2000. He joined Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, and served as Program Manager for Motes Stranding Investigations Program during 2000-2006, creating a model stranding response program for the southeastern U.S., and developing a laboratory for cetacean stomach content analyses. Dr. Barros then moved to Oregon and worked with Portland State University as a coordinator for the northern Oregon and southern Washington Stranding Network. He was an expert in feeding ecology of small and large cetaceans using stomachs and tissue samples to examine prey and trophic level interactions. He contributed to field studies throughout the world including the southeast coast of the United States, Hong Kong, Brazil, South Africa and the western United States. He authored or co-authored 34 peer-reviewed papers or book chapters, and helped many others with their publications, especially Latin American colleagues, through his constructive reviews and by serving as Editor of The Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals. He was called upon often by institutions and government wildlife management agencies to provide information on the feeding habits of cetaceans and pinnipeds during Unusual Mortality Events and mass stranding events. He examined small structures including fish otoliths and cephalopod parts to determine ingested prey in stranded animals and later expanded this work by utilizing tissue samples for stable isotope analysis to determine longer term trends in trophic food webs. He contributed significantly to our understanding of the importance of sound-producing fish in the diets of bottlenose dolphins, and filled in many gaps in our knowledge of the biology and ecology of difficult-to-study pygmy and dwarf sperm whales.
Dr. Barros was an avid organic gardener and loved to harvest eggs from his flock of free-range chickens (his girls). He was also a remarkable baker often surprising colleagues and friends with warm chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven. He travelled often for both work and pleasure. Along with his native Portuguese, he was fluent in English, Spanish and French and had been studying Russian. He was a remarkable friend and mentor to many and will always be remembered for his smile, generous spirit and his diligent work on behalf of marine mammals all over the globe. He is survived by his life partner Fred Casey, and his mother, father, brother and sister in Brazil. A reception in honor of Nélio will be held at the Jean Hendry Conference Hall of Mote Marine Laboratorys Marine Mammal Center at 3:00 pm on Saturday, 27 February, followed by a potluck celebration of his life at the home of Randall and Martha Wells in Sarasota, Florida. Please contact Randy Wells at rwe...@mote.org or (941) 388-2705 if you are able to attend, and to get details and directions. If you are unable to attend, but wish to provide a video message, please prepare it in Windows Media (preferred) or QuickTime format, and embedded into a PowerPoint 2004 slide (please include both kinds of files in the same folder and send on CD; do not send in PowerPoint 2007). Audio recordings may be sent in MP3 or Wav formats on CD. Video messages should be sent to Randy Wells at Mote Marine Laboratory, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, FL 34236. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Nélios name may be made to help repair the vandalized Cape Meares Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge, near his home in Oregon. To donate, please go to: http://capemeareslighthouse.org/index.html. Alternatively, donations may be made to help support the operations of Mote Marine Laboratorys Stranding Investigations Program. Checks may be sent to Mote Marine Laboratory, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, FL 34236, with a notation: In memory of Nélio Barros. Submitted in loving memory by: Megan Stolen Ruth DeLynn Debbie Duffield Randall Wells _______________________________________________ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
