28th October 2017

Anthropogenic sounds, such as from vessels, seismic surveys and pile-driving, can cause harm and disturbance to marine mammals over potentially large scales. In this workshop, we aim to draw on the experience of previous studies, identify lessons learned and recommendations for the future, and determine approaches for most effectively incorporating this knowledge into best management practices. This workshop follows the conference theme of reflecting on the journey of people who have studied this topic to inform future work. We will focus on four main themes: 1) Baseline data and models, examining appropriate measures, scales and resolutions, 2) Assessing individual responses to anthropogenic sounds, 3) Modeling population-level and cumulative effects of acoustic disturbance, 4) Application to best management practices. Each theme will consist of approximately four talks of 15 minutes each followed by a 30 minute discussion session.

If your research would be relevant, and you are interested in participating, there are still spaces available to give a 15-minute talk at the workshop.

Please Helen Bailey (hbailey@umces.edu) and/or Aaron Rice (arice@cornell.edu) know by 1^st  September if you are interested in presenting.

Marine mammal sensory systems: An integrated perspective

Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017. 8:00 – 17:00

Sensory systems evolve in response to environmental pressures, providing advantages for specialized or generalized habitat use, foraging, communication, locomotion, and navigation strategies. Thus, understanding marine mammal sensory systems requires knowledge of the species’ life history, properties of the aquatic signals, and neurobiology of sensory reception. This workshop explores the recent discoveries and challenges confronting research in marine mammal visual, chemical, olfactory, somatosensory and auditory modalities. We invite participants interested in marine mammal sensory adaptations, and potential multimodal cognitive processes that may trigger behaviors indicative of perception. Our objective is to formulate a whole-organism understanding of how disparate sensory signals may integrate to help marine mammals survive. This full-day workshop begins with short presentations and panel discussions on each sensory system. Afternoon activities include breakout sessions organized around marine mammal taxonomic groups, and focused on the benefits of sensory integration specific to the taxon’s habitat, behaviors, and life history. We anticipate the workshop will foster collaborations among experts and students with diverse specializations, identify important knowledge gaps, develop hypotheses on multimodal integration, and produce applications for marine mammal conservation.

STUDENTS WELCOME !

Advancing Marine Species Density Surface Modelling

Density surface models (sometimes called spatial or habitat models) attempt to describe animal distribution as a function of spatially referenced variables. Data typically come from line transect surveys, although there is the potential to use other effort-indexed surveys, such as passive acoustics. Outputs include modelled relationships between density and explanatory variables, spatial maps of population density, and estimates of population size with uncertainty in areas of interest within the larger modelled region. Outputs are of practical use in, for example, marine spatial planning and impact assessment.

There are many statistical methods available for density surface modeling. This one-day workshop is part of the start-up meeting of a research project, DenMod, that aims to compare the different approaches, identify outstanding issues and address some of them. The project is a collaboration between the University of St Andrews, Duke University and the regional NOAA Fisheries labs, and is funded by the US Navy. The goal of the workshop is to solicit input on the project goals and plans from developers and users of density surface models and their outputs. We will briefly present the methods we are considering, and invite comments. We also invite participants to present their research relating to density surface modeling. The workshop will be of interest to researchers who create density surface models as well as those who use the outputs.

The workshop is free but due to venue size, places are limited. If you are interested in attending, please register by emailing Catriona Harris (catriona.harris@st-andrews.ac.uk). If you would like to be considered for a presentation slot then please include a short abstract (no longer than 100 words) when you register.

Click here to read more.

We are pleased to announce a full day workshop entitled ” Developing Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to improve decision-making during mass stranding events ” at the upcoming 22nd Biennial Conference of the Marine Mammal Society. The workshop will take place on Sunday 29^th October from 0800 to 1700h and assemble scientists, vets, NGOs, government agencies and other stakeholders whom have experience and/or vested interest in (mass) stranding events. The workshop will engage expert opinion on the different parameters that can affect the likelihood of survivorship of refloated individuals and work towards establishment of predicted probabilities that can affect the outcome of rescue attempts. The overarching goal will be to prepare a submission for publication that addresses the application of BBNs to assess probability of survivorship in refloated whales.

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We are excited to be bringing the following full day workshop to the 22nd Biennial Marine Mammal Conference.

This workshop includes lectures from prominent scientists who have published on both facility-managed and wild animals (Sam Ridgway, Gerry Kooyman, Peter Tyack, Vincent Janik, Kathleen Dudzinski, Terrie Williams, Michael Moore, Paul Ponganis, Xavier Manteca, Cynthia Smith and Kelly Jaakkola). The workshop will provide insights into experimental science used in facilities and the wild to show how both approaches can complement each other. For example, including interrelated zoos can give greater data independence and controls absent in the wild; however!
, wild populations allow the evaluation of ecology on biology/behavior. Some animals in facilities are studied in the field, bridging differences between the methods. The speakers will discuss which settings are suited to provide data for scientific problems related to conservation, pathology, physiology, behavior, cognition and communication. Speakers will also discuss welfare in the wild and in facilities and make recommendations for the best approaches to solve conservation issues.

We like to announce a workshop titled: “Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) of marine mammals” at the upcoming 22nd Biennial Conference of the Marine Mammal Society. This two day workshop will take place on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th of October.

Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) has now been used in several large projects that have produced results that could not be achieved by other methods within realistic budgets, but it is a young method with multiple challenges. This workshop aims to focus on all issues that impact efforts to use PAM of all marine mammals and present recently finished and ongoing projects. Both, static acoustic monitoring as well as towed systems will be presented and three taxa, namely toothed whales, baleen whales and pinnipeds are covered.

In a novel format, we will combine tutorials on equipment, detectors, classifiers and density estimation with invited talks by experts in the field and some contributed presentations.
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For SMM participants working with PhotoID, genetic samples, sightings data, and/or tag data:

No researcher can cover the range over which whales operate, we need the tools to work on oceanic and global scales to conserve marine species over biologically relevant scales. Flukebook ( http://www.flukebook.org ) is the first web platform that engages both the research and citizen science aspects of cetacean conservation. Flukebook is groundbreaking because it connects everyone, including the animals, in the same social network for the first time. It builds living stories, about animals and the people who want to interact with them, but it also grows useful data streams and provides powerful tools to the researchers who study them. The Flukebook platform is first and foremost for professional researchers. It provides researchers with the advanced tools needed for scientific analysis and enables transboundary and multi-institutional collaboration without sacrificing interactivity or approachability for citizen scientists wanting to engage with the species and its conservation. In Flukebook, researchers have access to data management tools, A.I.-trained photo-matching computer vision algorithms, a global catalog of individuals, and easy connectivity to common analytical software for mark-recapture, genetic, and socio-ecological studies (MARK, WinBugs, Socprog, GeneAIEx, ARC, GoogleMaps, Genepop among others). At the research level, secured data sharing is accomplished on a peer-approval basis which allows users to access tools without the requirement of sharing data; but promotes a growing inclusiveness and respect for data rights. For citizen scientists, Flukebook enables participants to receive automatic and comprehensive profile updates on individuals they have sighted, transforming “data” into learning and encouraging repeat participation and engagement in conservation initiatives in those regions.

The half-day workshop to be hosted from 8:00am to 12:00pm on October 28^th will enable participants to learn more about this growing collaborative community, the functionality of the research tools, how to upload and export their data, examine and test the automated matching algorithms, learn more about how data is secured and shared online, and the future developments of the platform.

Click here to read more.