Greetings MARMAM! Join us on *23 September 2021 at 4 PM PDT (11 PM** UTC)* for the next SMM Seminar Editor's Select Series: Echolocation behaviour of fish-eating killer whales during pursuit and capture of salmon prey with Brianna Wright of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). Free to attend. Registration required. Presented online on Zoom. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_i1j2SHX2R2GvLexGa4HYPQ
Space on Zoom is limited to the first 100 attendees. The talk will also be streamed live on the SMM Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/marinemammalogy>. *The SMM Seminar Editor's Select Series highlights the latest and most exciting marine mammal science published in the Marine Mammal Science Journal. This is your chance to engage with marine mammal scientists, learn and ask questions from anywhere in the world. All are welcome. * *About this talk:* We used high-resolution acoustic and movement tags (Dtags) to analyse the echolocation behaviour of fish-eating killer whales during pursuit and capture of salmon prey. Whales produced more echolocation trains and had faster clicking rates prior to catching salmon versus afterward, confirming the importance of echolocation in prey detection and tracking. Extremely rapid click sequences (buzzes) occurred in the lead-up to salmon captures at depths typically exceeding 50 m, and were likely used for close-range prey targeting. Distinctive crunching sounds related to prey handling occurred at shallow depths following captures, matching observations that whales surfaced with salmon prior to eating them and often shared their prey. *About the presenter: * I received my B.Sc. majoring in Biology and Anthropology from the University of Victoria in 2007. During my undergrad I also participated in the UVic Biology Co-op program and studied at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. From 2008-2010, I worked as a Technician with the Cetacean Research Program of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) before returning to school and completing my M.Sc. in 2014 at UBC’s Marine Mammal Research Unit under the supervision of Dr. John Ford and Dr. Andrew Trites. My thesis investigated the fine-scale foraging behaviour of resident killer whales using suction-cup attached tags that recorded dive depth, body position and acoustic behaviour of individual whales. I returned to work with DFO’s Cetacean Research Program at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo in July 2014, and I’m currently a marine mammal Biologist with this group. My job takes me throughout beautiful coastal British Columbia, Canada where I’ve been lucky enough to participate in killer whale and sea otter census surveys and offshore ship and aerial distance-sampling surveys for cetaceans. Analytically, my recent work has focused on spatial density modelling of survey data for cetacean species to estimate their distribution and abundance. I also conduct assessments of killer whale diet composition and prey sharing behaviour through field collection and analysis of prey remains. Best regards, Eric Angel Ramos, Ph.D. Candidate *Ayça Eleman, Ph.D. *Candidate *Theresa-Anne Tatom-Naecker, Ph.D. Student* *Student Members-at-Large* Society for Marine Mammalogy Check us out on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/marinemammalogy/ <http://www.facebook.com/events/1060310684008883/>
_______________________________________________ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
