Previous Grants In Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

2021 Grants in Aid of Research  Recipients and Reports

  • Molecular investigation and characterization of hemotropic mycoplasmas in marine cetaceans and Amazonian and marine sirenians, Brazil (Read Report), Aricia Duarte Benvenuto
  • Change with the times: assessing Southwestern Atlantic southern right whales flexibility to a changing ocean (Report: extension granted) Florencia Vilches
  • Sentinels from the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula: Isotopic niche assessment of male California sea lions, (Read Report) Ariadna Santos-Reyes
  • Impact of interannual climate variability on the trophic habits of Guadalupe fur seals: assessment of time series along whiskers, (Read Report) Romyna Cruz-Vallejo
  • Pilot Project to Test Viability of Detecting Vaquita Porpoise Presence through Environmental DNA (eDNA) (Report: not submitted yet) Valeria Towns
  • Historical assessment of franciscana dolphins’ ecological traits from late Pleistocene to Holocene based on morphometric and stable isotope analyses, (Read Report), Thayara Carrasco
  • Population dynamics of southern right whales in the northern Patagonian gulf, Argentina, (Read Report) Magdalena Arias
  • Placing Brazilian Northeastern cetaceans on the map, (Read Report) Ferreira Stamatto
  • Satellite-tagging and tracking of sperm whales in the South China Sea: insights into distribution, movement, and habitat characteristics (Report: extension granted) Mingming Liu
  • Are mating preferences further structuring the population of Lahille’s bottlenose dolphins that forage with fishers? (Read Report), Ana Costa
  • Characterization of the habitat and human impact on dolphin ranges of Aragua coast, Venezuela (Report: not submitted yet) Sergio Cobarrubia-Russo
  • Mechanisms of depredation of artisanal gillnets by common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in coastal waters off Alvarado, Veracruz , (Read Report) Nataly Sneyder Morales-Rincon
  • Boto da Amazônia: Trends and Conservation of dolphins in the Central Amazon (Report: extension granted) Sannie Brum
  • A plant-based study of the feeding ecology of the African Manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) in the Lower Ntem River of Campo, Cameroon (Report: not submitted yet) Bridget Akume
  • Mother-calf interactions in Humpback whales: investigations on nursing, swimming and vocal behaviors, (Read Report) Maevatiana Ratsimbazafindranahaka
  • Application of drones to document the impact of whale-watching boats on the behavior of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in a nursing lagoon of Baja (Report: extension granted)  California Fernanda Urrutia
  • Orca Network in Cabo: using citizen science as a data-gathering resource for Mexican killer whales conservation (Report: not submitted yet) Edgar Flores Hernandez
  • Analysis of feeding habits of the northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) from the San Benito Archipelago, Baja California, Mexico, via stable isotopes (Report: extension granted) Jimena Cruz

2020 Grants in Aid of Research  Recipients and Reports

  • Untangling the complex speciation process of the Peruvian-Chilean fur seals hybrid group and the role of Isla Foca in its population dynamics, (Report: extension granted), (Read Report) Fernando Lopes, Chile.
  • Marine Mammal Conservation Status in Papua New Guinea: Development of a Marine Mammal Sighting and Stranding Database for Conservation Planning. (Read Report), Wilma Mavea, Papua New Guinea.
  • The impact of the SAR-Cov 2 pandemic on the whale-watching activity in Puerto Pirámide (Península Valdés, Chubut, Argentina): Social and ecological aspects, (Read Report) Santiago Fernández, Argentina
  • Is cetacean morbillivirus a threat for Amazon river dolphins? (Report: extension granted) Daniela Mello
  • Bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in living southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) mother and calves at Península Valdés, Argentina, (Report: extension granted) Carina Maron, Argentina
  • Assessing the isotopic niche of northeast Pacific gray whales stranded during a recent high mortality event, (Read Report) Michelle Rosales.
  • Social-ecological significance of interactions between humpback dolphins and small-scale fisheries along the Sindhudurg coast in Maharashtra, India, (Report: extension granted), Ketki Jog, India.
  • Change is real: assessing the impact of the first-ever witnessed ice-free winter on Ladoga ringed seal reproductive success, (Read Report) Irina Trukhanova.
  • Assessing the impact of Giant Salvinia proliferation on the habitat use of the African manatee in Lake Ossa, Cameroon, and determining the most efficient manatee detection method, (Read Report) Clinton Factheu, Cameroon.
  • Allometric aspects of directional cranial asymmetry in Odontocetes, (Read Report) Maira Laeta.
  • Africa’s singers on the move: Using song to understand the movement and mixing of humpback whale stocks around coastal southern Africa, (Read Report) Erin Ross-Marsh.
  • Chemical Feeding Ecology in the California sea lion Zalophus californianus of the Gulf of California (Mexico), (Report: extension granted), (Read Report) Daniela Alejan Murillo Cisneros, Mexico
  • Identifying priority conservation sites for the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin in Ungwana bay, Kenya, (Read Report) Michael Mwango, Kenya.
  • Assessing the species richness and relative abundance of cetaceans in Ghana: A social science perspective, (Read Report), Michael Ayeh, Ghana.
  • Microplastic contamination in Antarctic phocids, (Read Report) Julieta Cebuhar.
  • Using Bryde’s whale foraging behavior, habitat use, and acoustic patterns as a living platform to understand anthropogenic impacts on marine wildlife in Southeastern Brazil, (Report: extension granted), Rodrigo Tardin, Brazil.
  • What is limiting the recovery of Guadalupe fur seals at San Benito Archipelago, Pacific Ocean, Mexico? (Report: extension granted), (Read Report) Claudia Hernandez Camacho, Mexico.

2019 Grants In Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

  • Distribution, ecology and abundance of cetaceans in the Southern Ocean (Read Report) Maria Cecilia Passadore Real, Uruguay
  • Intra- and interspecific social structures, social networks and vocal repertoires between bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins of the central coast of Venezuela, South Caribbean Sea (Read Report) Sergio Cobarrubia-Russo, Venezuela
  • Systematic, ontogeny and paleobiology of Prosqualodon australis (Cetacea: Odontoceti) from the early Miocene of Patagonia (Argentina) (Read Report) Carlos Maximiliano Gaetán, Argentina
  • Applying biochemical and molecular tools to assess metabolic characteristics in wild marine Tursiops truncatus from different subspecies (Read Report) Bárbara Righetti, Brazil
  • Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Coastal Spotted Dolphin (Stenella attenuata graffmani) from the Mexican Central Pacific: Evaluating a Possible Risk Factor (Read Report) Evelyn Diaz, Mexico
  • Temporal and intra-individual foraging patterns of Ross seals inferred from bulk stable isotope signatures (Read Report) Mia Wege, South Africa
  • Evaluating trophic segregation between sympatric otariid species, South American fur seals and South American sea lions, in the productive upwelling Humboldt Current System (Read Report) Susana Cárdenas-Alayza, Peru
  • Paleodiversity and paleobiology of Pan-Physeteroidea from Miocene of Patagonia (Rio Negro and Chubut provinces, Argentina) (Read Report) Florencia Paolucci, Argentina
  • The humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) of El Salvador: Investigating the seasonal occurrence and identity of this endangered population (Read Report) Nicole Louise Ransome, Mexico
  • The influence of ship traffic on the behaviors and echolocation of Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) in the lower reaches of Yangtze River (Read Report) Lu Zhou, China
  • Commerson’s dolphin trophic ecology and population genetics along its endemic distribution in the Southwestern south Atlantic Ocean (Read Report) Cristian Alberto Durante, Argentina
  • Persistent Organic Pollutants measured in pinniped keratinous tissues: Influence of physiology on measured pollutant concentrations (Read Report) Nico Lubcker, South Africa
  • Mercury bioaccumulation in humpback whales sampled in the northern Colombian Pacific and the Antarctic Peninsula (Report missing) Natalia Botero Acosta, Columbia
  • Feeding ecology of Otariids in Southern Brazil over a ten-year period (Read Report) Renan Costa de Lima, Brazil
  • Assessing feeding ecology and mercury concentrations in four delphinid species in La Guajira to evaluate contamination in the northern portion of the Colombian Caribbean (Read Report) Dalia C. Barragan-Barrera, Columbia

2018 Small Grants in Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

  • Relatedness and disease: Could kinship be influencing disease outcome? (Read Report) Josefina Gutierrez, Chile
  • Genetic Diversity and Conservation of the African manatee in the downstream of the Sanaga watershed (DSRW), Cameroon (Read Report) Aristide Takoukam Kamla, Cameroon
  • Evaluation of the singing behavior of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) from two contrasting acoustic environments: Revillagigedo Island and Mexican Central Pacific (Read Report) Myriam Llamas, Mexico
  • Determinants of Africa Manatee (Trichechus senegalensis, link 1795) bycatch in Lake Ossa Wildlife Reserve: Perspectives for Fishermen-Manatee Conflict Mitigation (Read Report) Wongibe Poupezo Dieudonne, Cameroon
  • A multidisciplinary approach to assess the intermittent breeding pattern observed in southern elephant seals at Marion Island in the Southern Ocean (Read Report) Nico Lubcker, South Africa
  • Assessment of impacts of aquatic bush meat on marine mammals (Dolphins and African manatee) Cameroon estuary for National action plan (Read Report) Isidore Ayissi, Cameroon
  • Genetic validation of alpha-male paternity in southern elephant seals to determine the role of males in population dynamics (Read Report Wessel Oosthuizen, South Africa
  • Isolated in a harsh marine realm: phylogenetic position and genetic diversity of a possibly isolated Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) population in the Persian Gulf (Read Report) Mohsen Rezaie-Atagholipour, Iran
  • Study on fisheries threats to dolphins at Gulf of Mannar, Sri Lanka (Read Report) Lalith Ekanayake, Sri Lanka
  • Reconstructing the historical feeding ecology of bottlenose dolphins from the Western South Atlantic through stable isotope analysis of archived samples (Read Report) Andrea Campos Rangel, Brazil
  • Vertebral ecomorphology in Delphininae: Phylogenetic signal or habitat adaptation? (Read Report) María Constanza Marchesi, Argentina
  • The characteristics of underwater noise and the temporal and spatial distribution of the porpoises in the lower reaches of Yangtze River (Read Report Lu Zhou, China
  • Age and sex differentiated diet of Subantarctic fur seals from the Tristan da Cunha Islands: overlap with fisheries? (Read Report Mia Wege, South Africa
  • Trophic relations and habitat use along the ontogenetic development of the bottlenose dolphin’s ecotypes in the southern Brazil (Read Report) Luiza Becker Pereira, Brazil
  • Old and new bones: Assessing the historical ecology of otariids in the Southeastern coast of the South Pacific Ocean (Read Report) Ana Valenzuela Toro, Chile
  • Lek or female defense kind of polygyny? First report of circarhythms and reproductive behavior of Otaria byronia in the southeast Pacific (Read Report) Marlene Pizarro, Chile
  • Influence of abiotic factors on habitat use of Guiana dolphins in Ilhéus, Northeastern Brazil (Read Report) Anna Libório, Brazil
  • Study of the content of Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu in the bones of Phocoena phocoena relicta in the Bulgarian Black Sea region (Read Report) Violeta Evtimova, Bulgaria
  • Are Guiana dolphins organized in generalist populations of specialist individuals? (Read Report) Clarissa Teixeira, Brazil

2017 Small Grants in Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

  • Predator-prey interactions between northern elephant seals and white sharks at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico (Read Report) Stella Villegas-Amtmann, Mexico
  • Genetic characterization of the Antillean manatee population in Cuba: implications for the conservation of the species (Read Report) Anmari Alvarez Aleman, Cuba
  • Unlocking the secrets of a breath: Characterizing the microbiome and immunome of the respiratory tract of the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) (Read Report) Carlos Andrés Dominguez, Mexico
  • In sickness and in health: An ontogenetic and nutritional approach to understand changes in blood cell populations of free-living California sea lion pups (Read Report) Adriana Flores Moran, Mexico
  • Insights into the Trophic Ecology of the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (Stenella attenuata), the Dominant Dolphin Species in the Mexican Central Pacific (Read Report) Fernando R. Elorriaga-Verplancken, Mexico
  • Biodiversity and habitat use of marine mammals in the Central Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico (Read Report) Mariana Chavez Andrade, Mexico
  • Pursuing food and dealing with its cost: a fine-scale study on the foraging ecology of Inshore South African Bryde’s whales (Read ReportGwenith Susan Penry, South Africa
  • Does the South African chokka squid fishery change Cape fur seal foraging behaviour? (Read Report) Johann Samuel Frederik van der Vyver, South Africa
  • Molecular and histopathological investigation of Mycobacterium spp. in Pontoporia blainvilleiSotalia guianensisArctocephalus australis and Arctocephalus tropicalis of the Brazilian coast (Read Report) Natalia Silvestre Perez, Brazil
  • Biochemical role of the blue whale in the southwestern Gulf of California (Read Report) Cristina Casillas, Mexico
  • Evolutionary aspects of postcranial directional asymmetry in the skeletons of five genera from Delphinidae family (Read Report) Maíra Laeta, Brazil
  • What are the dolphins’ payoffs when cooperating with fishermen? (Read Report) Mauricio Cantor, Brazil
  • A novel application of photo-ID for understanding population size, geographic range and social structure of free ranging Ganges river dolphins (Read Report) Shambhu Paudel, Nepal
  • Collecting, integrating and publishing available stranding records of marine mammals around Hainan Island in the South China Sea (Read Report) Mingming Liu, China
  • Combining stable isotope and hormone analysis in baleen plates to assess stress and reproduction of mysticetes in the northeast pacific (Read Report) Geraldine R. Busquets-Vass, Mexico
  • Evaluation of the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) perception on the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve of (ASDR), Amazons, Brazil (Read Report) Hilda Isabel Chávez Pérez, Brazil

2016 Small Grants in Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

  • Characteristics of ship noise in a critical habitat of the world’s second largest humpback dolphin population: Implications for conservation (Read Report) Mingming Liu, China
  • Development of biosonar-related structures of dolphins (Odontoceti: Dephinoidea) (Read Report) Guilherme Frainer, Brazil
  • The chicken or the egg: is the immune response of South American fur seal pups the cause or the consequence of parasitic burden? (Read Report) Mauricio Seguel, Chile
  • Study on the three cetacean species stranded along the northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast (Read Report) Violeta Evtimova, Bulgaria
  • Range-wide phylogeography of the South American fur seal: evolutionary history of fur seals in South America using high-throughput sequencing (Read ReportFernando Lopes, Brazil
  • Survey of Brucella spp. in marine mammals from the Brazilian coast: a histopatological, immunohistochemical, sorological and molecular approach (Read Report) Angélica María Sánchez Sarmiento, Brazil
  • Individual identification based on the genotyping of blue whale stool collected in the Gulf of California (Read Report) Leticia Lili, México
  • Subtle population structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) at the Russian Far East (Read Report) Ekaterina Borisova, Russia
  • Is there a distinct lineage of Atlantic Spotted dolphins in Southwestern Atlantic Ocean? Insights from genomics and ecological approaches (Read Report) Karina Bohrer Amaral, Brazil
  • The contribution of individual traits in shaping the bottlenose dolphin society that forages cooperatively with artisanal fishermen (Read Report) Alexandre Marcel Silva Machado, Brazil
  • Evolutionary aspects of postcranial asymmetry of estuarine dolphin, Sotalia guianensis (van Bénéden, 1864), Pará state, Brazil (Read Report) Maíra Laeta, Brazil
  • Temporal variation in the nutritional status of the resident fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) in the Gulf of California (Failed to Submit a Report) Erica Carone, Mexico

2015 Grants In Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

  • Surviving in isolation: Are the Chilean Patagonia South American fur seals doomed to succumb to parasitic infections? (Read Report) Mauricio Seguel, Chile
  • Preserving the endangered African manatee population from human activities in Lake Ossa Wildlife Reserve (Read Report) Paul Rodrigue Ngafack, Cameroon
  • Feeding habits of the Amazonas manatee (Trichechus inunguis) and the Antillean manatee (T. m. manatus) in Colombia by applying stable isotope analysis (Read Report) Federico Riet, Colombia
  • Persistent organic pollutants in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from two resident populations of southern Brazil: Assessing exposure levels and potential  contamination and immune biomarkers (Read ReportBárbara Righetti, Brazil
  • Survey of Brucella spp. in marine mammals from the Brazilian coast: a histopatological, immunohistochemical, sorological and molecular approach (Read ReportAngélica María Sánchez Sarmiento, Brazil
  • Analysis of the vertebral morphology and the biomechanical properties of the skeleton in four dolphin species off southern South America employing geometrics morphometrics (Read ReportMaría Marchesi, Argentina
  • Conservation of Atlantic humpback dolphin (Souza teuszii Kükenthal, 1892) in South Cameroon (West-Africa) (Read Report) Isidore Ayissi, Cameroon
  • Improving the detectability and categorization of California sea lions using unmanned aerial imagery (Read Report) Karen Adame Fernández, Mexico
  • Sex determination and sex ratio of Guiana dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) incidentally caught in fishing nets along the Northern Brazilian coast (Read Report) Hanna Gabriely Pinto Gonçalves, Brazil
  • Foraging ecology of a population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama (Read Report) Maria Paula Hernandez, Colombia
  • Trophic structure of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) populations in the southern Gulf of Mexico (Read Report) Raul E. Diaz-Gamboa, Mexico

2014 Grants In Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

  • Insights into the Trophic Ecology of Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in the Mexican Central Pacific (Read Report) Christian Daniel Ortega-Ortiz, Mexico
  • Population structure and contamination status of Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) (Failed to Submit a Report) Paula Mendez Fernandez, Brazil
  • Improving Abundance Estimates of Threatened Franciscana Dolphins (Read Report)Federico Sucunza, Brazil
  • Assessing the presence and movement patterns of indo-pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) in the south-east coast of India (Read Report) Rahul Muralidharan, India
  • Occurrence, distribution and preliminary genetic status of cetaceans in The Guajira region, Colombian Caribbean (Read Report) Dalia C. Barragán-Barrera, Colombia
  • Systematic and paleobiology of Notocetus vanbenedeni (Early Miocene, Patagonia) and the evolution of Platanistoidea (Read Report) Mariana Viglino, Argentina
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) song across successive breeding seasons and its use as a conservation tool (Read Report) Luz Helena Rodriguez-Varga, Colombia
  • Trace elements in teeth of small cetaceans from subantarctic waters, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (Read Report) Iris Cáceres-Saez, Argentina
  • Assessment of Commerson’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) conservation status at argentine’s southern distribution (Failed to Submit a Report) Maria Fernanda Negri, Argentina
  • Status of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in northern Dalmatia, Croatia (Read Report) Jure Miočić-Stošić, Croatia
  • Temporal and spatial variation in marine mammal strandings in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (Read Report) Gordon John Gregory Hofmeyr, South Africa
  • Molecular taxonomy of Bryde’s whales in the Southwestern Atlantic (Failed to Submit a Report) Carolina Pereira Dias, Brazil

2013 Grants In Aid of Research Recipients and Reports

  • Breathe for the health of large whales: comparison between Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis) and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) (Read report) Kátia R. Groch, Brazil
  • Linking trophodynamics and demography in a wide-ranging marine predator population (Read report) Chris Oosthuizen, South Africa
  • The role of marine protected areas in the population dynamics and conservation of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) along the southeast coast of South Africa (Read report) Olga Alejandra Vargas, South Africa
  • Spatial variation in preneoplastic cellular alterations of the genital eptithelium of California sea lions along their breeding range (Read report) Cecilia Barragán-Vargas, Mexico
  • Ontogeny, asymmetry and sexual dimorphism on odontocete cetaceans (Read report) Daniela Laura del Castillo, Argentina
  • Assessment of Commerson’s dolphin Cephalorhynchus commersonii conservation status at Argentine’s southern distribution (Read report) Maria Fernanda Negri, Argentina
  • Early ontogeny of mucosal immunity of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) (Read report) Wendy Beatriz Espinosa De Aquino, Mexico
  • The development of social behaviour of Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) during the post-weaning fast (Read report) Vaida Surviliene, Lithuania
  • Genetic structure and pedigree of manatee in Tabasco (Read report) Guadalupe Gomez Carrasco, Mexico
  • Genetic diversity and population structure of the rough-toothed dolphin (Steno bredanensis) in Brazil (Read report) Dayse Mello Pereira da SilvaBrazil
  • Temporal and spatial variation in the feeding habits of the Southern sea lion, Otaria flavescens on the coasts of Rio Negro province, Argentina (Read report) Raimundo Lucas Bustos, Argentina
  • Investigation of dolphin-fisher interactions and the impact of dolphins on fishing in Jamaica (Read Report) Christine O’Sullivan, Jamaica
  • Plasticity of ultraviolet radiation skin damage repair and avoidance strategies in the blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus (Read report) Blanca Morales Guerrero, Mexico
  • Steroid hormone assessments in blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) from the Gulf of California Mexico (Read report) Marcia Valenzuela, Mexico