[MARMAM] SMM Editor’s Select Series for September 23rd: Echolocation behaviour of fish-eating killer whales during pursuit and capture of salmon prey

[Student Members-at-Large Society for Marine Mammalogy]

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
.

*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/

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[MARMAM] New publication: Bayesian approach for predicting photogrammetric uncertainty in morphometric measurements derived from drones

[Bierlich, Kevin C]

Greetings MARMAM Community,

On behalf of my colleagues, I am pleased to share our recent publication in 
Marine Ecology Progress Series:

Bierlich KC, Schick RS, Hewitt J, Dale J, Goldbogen JA, Friedlaender AS, 
Johnston DW (2021) Bayesian approach for predicting photogrammetric uncertainty 
in morphometric measurements derived from drones. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 
673:193-210. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13814 
  


ABSTRACT: Increasingly, drone-based photogrammetry has been used to measure 
size and body condition changes in marine megafauna. A broad range of 
platforms, sensors, and altimeters are being applied for these purposes, but 
there is no unified way to predict photogrammetric uncer- tainty across this 
methodological spectrum. As such, it is difficult to make robust comparisons 
across studies, disrupting collaborations amongst researchers using platforms 
with varying levels of measurement accuracy. Here we built off previous studies 
quantifying uncertainty and used an experimental approach to train a Bayesian 
statistical model using a known-sized object floating at the water’s surface to 
quantify how measurement error scales with altitude for several different 
drones equipped with different cameras, focal length lenses, and altimeters. We 
then applied the fitted model to predict the length distributions and estimate 
age classes of unknown-sized hump- back whales Megaptera novaeangliae, as well 
as to predict the population-level morphological relationship between rostrum 
to blowhole distance and total body length of Antarctic minke whales 
Balaenoptera bonaerensis. This statistical framework jointly estimates errors 
from altitude and length measurements from multiple observations and accounts 
for altitudes measured with both barometers and laser altimeters while 
incorporating errors specific to each. This Bayesian model outputs a posterior 
predictive distribution of measurement uncertainty around length measurements 
and allows for the construction of highest posterior density intervals to 
define measurement uncertainty, which allows one to make probabilistic 
statements and stronger infer- ences pertaining to morphometric features 
critical for understanding life history patterns and potential impacts from 
anthropogenically altered habitats.


The article is open-access and available at: 
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v673/p193-210/


Cheers,
KC


KC (Kevin) Bierlich, PhD, MEM
Postdoctoral Scholar
Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna 
(GEMM) Lab
Marine Mammal Institute | Dept. of Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Sciences
Oregon State University
Pronouns: he, him, his
kcbierlich.com
kevin.bierl...@oregonstate.edu













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[MARMAM] Northwest Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammalogy Website and Mailing List

[Storlund, Rhea]

Dear MARMAM Community,

We are excited to announce that the Northwest Student Chapter of the Society 
for Marine Mammalogy (NWSSMM) has a new website! NWSSMM serves a community of 
graduate and undergraduate students whose research is focused primarily on 
marine mammals. Students represented in this chapter are located throughout the 
Pacific Northwest, including Oregon and Washington, U.S., and British Columbia, 
Canada.

Check out our website for chapter news, handy student resources, and 
eye-catching photographs taken by NWSSMM members.

Access the website here: https://sites.google.com/uw.edu/nwssmm/home

If you are a student studying marine mammals in the Pacific Northwest, take a 
moment to join our email 
list to receive updates 
about our Student Chapter including notifications about our yearly meeting and 
student-organized symposium. Joining the NWSSMM is a great way to meet other 
students and researchers pursuing marine mammal science in your area.

Thank you,

Rhea
On behalf of the NWSSMM Chapter Representatives

Rhea Storlund MSc (she/her)
PhD Candidate (Zoology)
Marine Mammal Research Unit
The University of British Columbia
Territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people
r.storl...@oceans.ubc.ca
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[MARMAM] New Paper: Stable isotopes as indicator of nutritional stress in southern right whales

[Emma Carroll]

Hi All,

My co-authors and I are pleased to announce that the following paper has
recently been published in Marine Mammal Science:

Carroll, E. L., G. Dunshea, P. H. Ott, L. O. Valenzuela, C. S. Baker, S. J.
Childerhouse, O. E. Gaggiotti, P. A. C. Flores, K. Groch, D. R. Gröcke, M.
A. Hindell, D. Lundquist, L. R. Oliviera, V. Rowntree, M. Sironi and S. D.
Newsome. 2021. Variation in d13C and d15N values of mothers and their
calves across southern right whale nursery grounds: the effects of
nutritional stress? Marine Mammal Science. Online early view.

PDF available from the journal and authors on request:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10./mms.12871

Accepted version free to download:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353935109_Variation_in_d13C_and_d15N_values_of_mothers_and_their_calves_across_southern_right_whale_nursery_grounds_The_effects_of_nutritional_stress

As the study encompasses study sites from around the world we include
abstracts in multiple languages below and in the accepted version of the
manuscript.

ABSTRACT
Southern right whales (SRW) are capital breeders that use stored energy
reserves to sustain themselves and their calves on nursery areas. With
successful calving events declining in some SRW populations, it has been
hypothesized that nutritional stress in adult females causes reproductive
failure or death of calves shortly after birth. Here we compared offsets in
carbon and nitrogen isotope values of mothers and their offspring
(delta13Ccalf-cow and delta15Ncalf-cow) among three SRW populations. SRW
from Aotearoa New Zealand, with high population growth rates and body
conditions scores, have negative delta13Ccalf-cow suggesting calves are
utilizing 13C-depleted lipid carbon in milk to fuel the synthesis of
nonessential amino acids used to build new tissues and rapidly grow. In
contrast, a significantly positive delta13Ccalf-cow offset previously
reported for SRW from Argentina during a mass die-off event was
hypothesized to be due to calves consuming milk with low lipid content.
Patterns in delta15Ncalf-cow were more difficult to interpret and highlight
the complexity in nitrogen transfer between mother and offspring. When
combined with similar data collected from Brazil and during a low mortality
year in Argentina, we hypothesize this approach provides a way to
retrospectively compare nutritional condition of breeding adult female SRW
across nursery areas.

RESUMEN
Las ballenas francas australes (BFA) tienen una estrategia de reproducción
de “acumulación de capital”, es decir que utilizan las reservas de energía
almacenadas para mantenerse a sí mismas y a sus crías en las áreas de cría.
Con la disminución de los eventos de partos exitosos en algunas poblaciones
de BFA, se ha planteado la hipótesis que el estrés nutricional en las
hembras adultas causa fallas reproductivas o la muerte de los ballenatos
poco después del nacimiento. En este trabajo comparamos las diferencias en
los valores de isótopos de carbono y nitrógeno de las madres y sus crías
(delta13Ccría-madre y delta15Ncría-madre) entre tres poblaciones de BFA.
Las BFA de Aotearoa Nueva Zelanda, con altas tasas de crecimiento de la
población y altos puntajes de condiciones corporales,
tiene delta13Ccría-madre negativo, lo que sugiere que las crías están
utilizando carbono lipídico empobrecido en 13C en la leche para impulsar la
síntesis de aminoácidos no esenciales utilizados para construir nuevos
tejidos y crecer rápidamente. En contraste, diferencias significativamente
positivas de delta13Ccría-madre reportadas previamente para BFA de
Argentina durante un evento de muerte masiva han sido hipotetizadas como
debido al consumo de leche con bajo contenido de lípidos. Los patrones
de delta15Ncría-madre fueron más difíciles de interpretar y resaltan la
complejidad en la transferencia de nitrógeno entre las madres y sus crías.
Al combinar los datos de este estudio con datos similares recopilados en
Brasil y durante un año de baja mortalidad en Argentina, podemos plantear
la hipótesis de que este enfoque proporciona una forma de comparar
retrospectivamente la condición nutricional de las hembras adultas de BFW
en distintas áreas de cría.

RESUMO
A baleia-franca-austral (BFA) possui a estratégia de acumular energia para
manter a si mesma e aos seus filhotes nas áreas reprodutivas. Devido a
diminuição do número de partos bem sucedidos em algumas populações de BFA,
foi sugerida a hipótese de que o estresse nutricional nas fêmeas adultas
causaria falhas reprodutivas ou a morte dos filhotes logo após o
nascimento. Neste estudo comparamos as diferenças nos valores dos isótopos
de carbono e nitrogênio das fêmeas e seus filhotes (delta13Cfilhote-mãe
e delta 5Nfilhote-mãe) entre três populações de BFA. As BFA de Aotearoa
Nova Zelândia, com altas taxas de crescimento da população e altos valores
de condição corporal, têm delta13Cfilhote-mãe negativo, resultado que
sugere que os filhotes estão utilizando carbono lipídico 

[MARMAM] Recent Publication: New Blue Whale Song Variants

[Alexander Carbaugh-Rutland]

To whom it may concern,

On behalf of my co-authors I am happy to announce our new publication in
the Journal of Endangered Species Research, entitled *Geographically
distinct blue whale song variants in the Northeast Pacific. *

Carbaugh-Rutland A, Have Rasmussen J, Sterba-Boatwright B, Širović A (2021)
Geographically distinct blue whale song variants in the Northeast Pacific.
Endang Species Res 46:19-33. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01145

This article is open access and can be found at the following link:
https://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2021/46/n046p019.pdf


*Abstract: *
The Northeast Pacific (NEP) population of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus
musculus is currently managed as a single stock. We investigated the
fine-scale frequency characteristics of 1 NEP blue whale song unit, the B
call. We analyzed B calls from passive acoustic data collected between 2010
and 2013 at 2 low-latitude sites, Palmyra Atoll and the Hawaiian Islands,
and 3 higher-latitude sites, off southern California, off Washington state
and in the Gulf of Alaska. Frequency measurements were extracted along the
contour of the third harmonic from each call, and data from each region
were compared. Calls from the Gulf of Alaska and Hawai‘i presented a
downshift in frequency, beginning just past the midway point of the
contour, which was not present in calls recorded from southern California
or Palmyra Atoll. Calls from Washington displayed intermediate
characteristics between those from the other 2 high-latitude sites. Cluster
analysis resulted in consistent grouping of call contours from Washington
and southern California, in what we termed the NEP B1 variant, while
contours from Hawai‘i and the Gulf of Alaska were grouped together, as a
NEP B2 variant. Frequency differences were also observed among the
variants; the Gulf of Alaska displayed the highest frequency on average,
followed by Washington, then southern California. Consistent with other
studies, a yearly decline in the frequency of B calls was also observed.
This discovery of at least 2 geographically distinct variants provides the
first evidence of vocally distinct subpopulations within the NEP,
indicating the possibility of a need for finer-scale population
segmentation.


Thank you for your consideration!
Sincerely,
Alex Carbaugh-Rutland
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