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  • 1
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    Geographic and temporal dynamics of a global radiation and diversification in the killer whale (2015)
    Wiley
    In:  Molecular Ecology, 24 (15). pp. 3964-3979.
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-02-27
    Description: Global climate change during the Late Pleistocene periodically encroached and then released habitat during the glacial cycles, causing range expansions and contractions in some species. These dynamics have played a major role in geographic radiations, diversification and speciation. We investigate these dynamics in the most widely distributed of marine mammals, the killer whale (Orcinus orca), using a global data set of over 450 samples. This marine top predator inhabits coastal and pelagic ecosystems ranging from the ice edge to the tropics, often exhibiting ecological, behavioural and morphological variation suggestive of local adaptation accompanied by reproductive isolation. Results suggest a rapid global radiation occurred over the last 350000years. Based on habitat models, we estimated there was only a 15% global contraction of core suitable habitat during the last glacial maximum, and the resources appeared to sustain a constant global effective female population size throughout the Late Pleistocene. Reconstruction of the ancestral phylogeography highlighted the high mobility of this species, identifying 22 strongly supported long-range dispersal events including interoceanic and interhemispheric movement. Despite this propensity for geographic dispersal, the increased sampling of this study uncovered very few potential examples of ancestral dispersal among ecotypes. Concordance of nuclear and mitochondrial data further confirms genetic cohesiveness, with little or no current gene flow among sympatric ecotypes. Taken as a whole, our data suggest that the glacial cycles influenced local populations in different ways, with no clear global pattern, but with secondary contact among lineages following long-range dispersal as a potential mechanism driving ecological diversification.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
    Format: text
    DOI: 10.1111/mec.13284
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    OceanRep: Article in a Scientific Journal - peer-reviewed
  • 2
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    Assessing North Atlantic Right whale health: a review of threats, and development of tools critical for conservation of the species (2021)
    Inter Research
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: © The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Moore, M. J., Rowles, T. K., Fauquier, D. A., Baker, J. D., Biedron, I., Durban, J. W., Hamilton, P. K., Henry, A. G., Knowlton, A. R., McLellan, W. A., Miller, C. A., Pace, R. M.,3rd, Pettis, H. M., Raverty, S., Rolland, R. M., Schick, R. S., Sharp, S. M., Smith, C. R., Thomas, L., der Hoop, J. M. V., & Ziccardi, M. H. REVIEW: Assessing North Atlantic right whale health: threats, and development of tools critical for conservation of the species. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 143, (2021): 205-226, https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03578.
    Description: Whaling decimated North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis - NARW) since the 11th century and southern right whales (E. australis - SRW) since the 19th century. Today, NARWs are critically endangered and decreasing, whereas SRWs are recovering. We review NARW health assessment literature, NARW Consortium databases, and efforts and limitations to monitor individual and species health, survival, and fecundity. Photographs are used to track individual movement and external signs of health such as evidence of vessel and entanglement trauma. Post mortem examinations establish cause of death and determine organ pathology. Photogrammetry is used to assess growth rates and body condition. Samples of blow, skin, blubber, baleen and feces quantify hormones that provide information on stress, reproduction, and nutrition, identify microbiome changes, and assess evidence of infection. We also discuss models of the population consequences of multiple stressors, including the connection between human activities (e.g., entanglement) and health. Lethal and sublethal vessel and entanglement trauma have been identified as major threats to the species. There is a clear and immediate need for expanding trauma reduction measures. Beyond these major concerns, further study is needed to evaluate the impact of other stressors, such as pathogens, microbiome changes, and algal and industrial toxins, on NARW reproductive success and health. Current and new health assessment tools should be developed and used to monitor the effectiveness of management measures, and will help determine whether they are sufficient for a substantive species recovery.
    Description: We thank the participants of the North Atlantic Right Whale Health Assessment workshop, June 24-26, 2019, Silver Spring MD, USA, for their contributions. NA14OAR4320158 funded the drafting of this manuscript. We sincerely thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The scientific results and conclusions, as well as any views or opinions expressed herein, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA.
    Keywords: Right Whale ; Health ; Trauma ; Reproduction ; Stressor ; Cumulative Effects
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
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  • 3
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    Photogrammetry of blue whales with an unmanned hexacopter (2016)
    John Wiley & Sons
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © Society for Marine Mammalogy, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of Society for Marine Mammalogy for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Mammal Science 32 (2016):1510–1515, doi:10.1111/mms.12328.
    Description: Baleen whales are the largest animals ever to live on earth, and many populations were hunted close to extinction in the 20th century (Clapham et al. 1999). Their recovery is now a key international conservation goal, and they are important in marine ecosystems as massive consumers that can promote primary production through nutrient cycling (Roman et al. 2014). However, although abundance has been assessed to monitor the recovery of some large whale populations (e.g., Barlow et al. 2011, Laake et al. 2012) many populations are wide-ranging and pelagic, and this inaccessibility has generally impeded quantitative assessments of recovery (Peel et al. 2015). To augment traditional abundance monitoring, we suggest that photogrammetric measures of individual growth and body condition can also inform about population status, enabling assessment of individual health as well as population numbers. Photogrammetry from manned aircraft has used photographs taken from directly above whales to estimate individual lengths (Gilpatrick and Perryman 2008) and monitor growth trends (Fearnbach et al. 2011), and shape profiles can be measured to assess body condition to infer reproductive and nutritional status (e.g., Perryman and Lynn 2002, Miller et al. 2012). Recently, Durban et al. (2015) demonstrated the utility of an unmanned hexacopter for collecting aerial photogrammetry images of killer whales (Orcinus orca); this provided a noninvasive, cost-effective, and safe platform that could be deployed from a boat to obtain vertical images of whales. Here we describe the use of this small, unmanned aerial system (UAS) to measure length and condition of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), the largest of all whales.
    Description: María Francisca Cortés Solari; Rafaela Landea Briones; MERI Foundation; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Access
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
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  • 4
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    Contrasting abundance and residency patterns of two sympatric populations of transient killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the northern Gulf of Alaska (2021)
    In:  http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/8678 | 403 | 2012-06-05 13:31:20 | 8678 | United States National Marine Fisheries Service
    Details
    Publication Date: 2021-06-25
    Description: Two sympatric populations of “transient” (mammal-eating)killer whales were photo-identified over 27 years (1984–2010) in Prince William Sound and Kenai Fjords, coastal waters of the northern Gulf of Alaska (GOA). A total of 88 individuals were identified during 203 encounters with “AT1” transients (22 individuals) and 91 encounters with “GOA” transients (66 individuals). The median number of individuals identified annually was similar for both populations (AT1=7; GOA=8), but mark-recapture estimates showed the AT1 whales to have much higher fidelity to the study area, whereas the GOA whales had a higher exchange ofindividuals. Apparent survival estimates were generally high for both populations, but there was a significantreduction in the survival of AT1 transients after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, with an abrupt decline in estimated abundance from a high of 22 in 1989 to a low of seven whales at the end of 2010. There was no detectable decline in GOA population abundance or survival over the same period, but abundance ranged from just 6 to 18 whales annually. Resighting data from adjacent coastal watersand movement tracks from satellite tags further indicated that the GOA whales are part of a larger population with a more extensive range, whereas AT1 whales are resident tothe study area.
    Keywords: Biology ; Ecology ; Fisheries
    Repository Name: AquaDocs
    Type: article , TRUE
    Format: application/pdf
    Format: application/pdf
    Format: 143-155
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  • 5
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    Beaked whales respond to simulated and actual navy sonar (2011)
    Public Library of Science
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e17009, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017009.
    Description: Beaked whales have mass stranded during some naval sonar exercises, but the cause is unknown. They are difficult to sight but can reliably be detected by listening for echolocation clicks produced during deep foraging dives. Listening for these clicks, we documented Blainville's beaked whales, Mesoplodon densirostris, in a naval underwater range where sonars are in regular use near Andros Island, Bahamas. An array of bottom-mounted hydrophones can detect beaked whales when they click anywhere within the range. We used two complementary methods to investigate behavioral responses of beaked whales to sonar: an opportunistic approach that monitored whale responses to multi-day naval exercises involving tactical mid-frequency sonars, and an experimental approach using playbacks of simulated sonar and control sounds to whales tagged with a device that records sound, movement, and orientation. Here we show that in both exposure conditions beaked whales stopped echolocating during deep foraging dives and moved away. During actual sonar exercises, beaked whales were primarily detected near the periphery of the range, on average 16 km away from the sonar transmissions. Once the exercise stopped, beaked whales gradually filled in the center of the range over 2–3 days. A satellite tagged whale moved outside the range during an exercise, returning over 2–3 days post-exercise. The experimental approach used tags to measure acoustic exposure and behavioral reactions of beaked whales to one controlled exposure each of simulated military sonar, killer whale calls, and band-limited noise. The beaked whales reacted to these three sound playbacks at sound pressure levels below 142 dB re 1 µPa by stopping echolocation followed by unusually long and slow ascents from their foraging dives. The combined results indicate similar disruption of foraging behavior and avoidance by beaked whales in the two different contexts, at exposures well below those used by regulators to define disturbance.
    Description: The research reported here was financially supported by the United States (U.S.) Office of Naval Research (www.onr.navy.mil) Grants N00014-07-10988, N00014-07-11023, N00014-08-10990; the U.S. Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (www.serdp.org) Grant SI-1539, the Environmental Readiness Division of the U.S. Navy (http://www.navy.mil/local/n45/), the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Warfare Division (Undersea Surveillance), the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology) (http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/), U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Acoustics Program (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/acoustics/), and the Joint Industry Program on Sound and Marine Life of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (www.soundandmarinelife.org).
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
    Format: application/pdf
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  • 6
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    Population comparison of right whale body condition reveals poor state of the North Atlantic right whale (2020)
    Inter Research
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: © The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Christiansen, F., Dawson, S. M., Durban, J. W., Fearnbach, H., Miller, C. A., Bejder, L., Uhart, M., Sironi, M., Corkeron, P., Rayment, W., Leunissen, E., Haria, E., Ward, R., Warick, H. A., Kerr, I., Lynn, M. S., Pettis, H. M., & Moore, M. J. Population comparison of right whale body condition reveals poor state of the North Atlantic right whale. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 640, (2020): 1-16, doi:10.3354/meps13299.
    Description: The North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis (NARW), currently numbering 〈410 individuals, is on a trajectory to extinction. Although direct mortality from ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements remain the major threats to the population, reproductive failure, resulting from poor body condition and sublethal chronic entanglement stress, is believed to play a crucial role in the population decline. Using photogrammetry from unmanned aerial vehicles, we conducted the largest population assessment of right whale body condition to date, to determine if the condition of NARWs was poorer than 3 seemingly healthy (i.e. growing) populations of southern right whales E. australis (SRWs) in Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. We found that NARW juveniles, adults and lactating females all had lower body condition scores compared to the SRW populations. While some of the difference could be the result of genetic isolation and adaptations to local environmental conditions, the magnitude suggests that NARWs are in poor condition, which could be suppressing their growth, survival, age of sexual maturation and calving rates. NARW calves were found to be in good condition. Their body length, however, was strongly determined by the body condition of their mothers, suggesting that the poor condition of lactating NARW females may cause a reduction in calf growth rates. This could potentially lead to a reduction in calf survival or an increase in female calving intervals. Hence, the poor body condition of individuals within the NARW population is of major concern for its future viability.
    Description: North Atlantic: NOAA NA14OAR4320158; Australia: US Office of Naval Research Marine Mammals Program (Award No. N00014-17-1-3018), the World Wildlife Fund for Nature Australia and a Murdoch University School of Veterinary and Life Sciences Small Grant Award; New Zealand: New Zealand Antarctic Research institute (NZARI 2016-1-4), Otago University and NZ Whale and Dolphin Trust; Argentina: National Geographic Society (Grant number: NGS-379R-18).
    Keywords: Baleen whale ; Bioenergetics ; Eubalaena ; Morphometrics ; Photogrammetry ; Unmanned aerial vehicles
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
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  • 7
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    Larger females have more calves: influence of maternal body length on fecundity in North Atlantic right whales (2022)
    Inter Research
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-10-07
    Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Stewart, J., Durban, J., Europe, H., Fearnbach, H., Hamilton, P., Knowlton, A., Lynn, M., Miller, C., Perryman, W., Tao, B., & Moore, M. Larger females have more calves: influence of maternal body length on fecundity in North Atlantic right whales. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 689, (2022): 179–189, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14040.
    Description: North Atlantic right whales (NARW) are critically endangered and have been declining in abundance since 2011. In the past decade, human-caused mortalities from vessel strikes and entanglements have been increasing, while birth rates in the population are at a 40 yr low. In addition to declining abundance, recent studies have shown that NARW length-at-age is decreasing due to the energetic impacts of sub-lethal entanglements, and that the body condition of the population is poorer than closely related southern right whales. We examined whether shorter body lengths are associated with reduced fecundity in female NARW. We compared age-corrected, modeled metrics of body length with 3 metrics of fecundity: age at first reproduction, average inter-birth interval, and the number of calves produced per potential reproductive year. We found that body length is significantly related to birth interval and calves produced per reproductive year, but not age at first reproduction. Larger whales had shorter inter-birth intervals and produced more calves per potential reproductive year. Larger whales also had higher lifetime calf production, but this was a result of larger whales having longer potential reproductive spans, as body lengths have generally been declining over the past 40 yr. Declining body sizes are a potential contributor to low birth rates over the past decade. Efforts to reduce entanglements and vessel strikes could help maintain population viability by increasing fecundity and improving resiliency of the population to other anthropogenic and climate impacts.
    Description: Funding to the New England Aquarium for curation of the photo-identification catalog is provided by NOAA Contract 1305M2- 18-P-NFFM-0108.
    Keywords: Photogrammetry ; Cetacean ; Reproduction ; Anthropogenic impacts
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
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  • 8
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    Extensive core microbiome in drone-captured whale blow supports a framework for health monitoring (2017)
    American Society for Microbiology
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: © The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in mSystems 2 (2017): e00119-17, doi:10.1128/mSystems.00119-17.
    Description: The pulmonary system is a common site for bacterial infections in cetaceans, but very little is known about their respiratory microbiome. We used a small, unmanned hexacopter to collect exhaled breath condensate (blow) from two geographically distinct populations of apparently healthy humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), sampled in the Massachusetts coastal waters off Cape Cod (n = 17) and coastal waters around Vancouver Island (n = 9). Bacterial and archaeal small-subunit rRNA genes were amplified and sequenced from blow samples, including many of sparse volume, as well as seawater and other controls, to characterize the associated microbial community. The blow microbiomes were distinct from the seawater microbiomes and included 25 phylogenetically diverse bacteria common to all sampled whales. This core assemblage comprised on average 36% of the microbiome, making it one of the more consistent animal microbiomes studied to date. The closest phylogenetic relatives of 20 of these core microbes were previously detected in marine mammals, suggesting that this core microbiome assemblage is specialized for marine mammals and may indicate a healthy, noninfected pulmonary system. Pathogen screening was conducted on the microbiomes at the genus level, which showed that all blow and few seawater microbiomes contained relatives of bacterial pathogens; no known cetacean respiratory pathogens were detected in the blow. Overall, the discovery of a shared large core microbiome in humpback whales is an important advancement for health and disease monitoring of this species and of other large whales.
    Description: Funding for sample analysis was provided through a grant to A.A., M.J.M., and J.W.D. from the Ocean Life Institute of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Attachments for collection surfaces on the hexacopter were constructed with funding support from NOAA’s UAS Program.
    Keywords: SSU rRNA ; Gene ; Bacteria ; Drone ; Humpback whale ; Microbiome
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
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  • 9
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    Body size data collected non-invasively from drone images indicate a morphologically distinct Chilean blue whale (Blaenoptera musculus) taxon (2021)
    Inter Research
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: © The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Leslie, M. S., Perkins-Taylor, C. M., Durban, J. W., Moore, M. J., Miller, C. A., Chanarat, P., Bahamonde, P., Chiang, G., & Apprill, A. Body size data collected non-invasively from drone images indicate a morphologically distinct Chilean blue whale (Blaenoptera musculus) taxon. Endangered Species Research, 43, (2020): 291-304, https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01066.
    Description: The blue whale Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758) was the target of intense commercial whaling in the 20th century, and current populations remain drastically below pre-whaling abundances. Reducing uncertainty in subspecific taxonomy would enable targeted conservation strategies for the recovery of unique intraspecific diversity. Currently, there are 2 named blue whale subspecies in the temperate to polar Southern Hemisphere: the Antarctic blue whale B. m. intermedia and the pygmy blue whale B. m. brevicauda. These subspecies have distinct morphologies, genetics, and acoustics. In 2019, the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s Committee on Taxonomy agreed that evidence supports a third (and presently unnamed) subspecies of Southern Hemisphere blue whale subspecies, the Chilean blue whale. Whaling data indicate that the Chilean blue whale is intermediate in body length between pygmy and Antarctic blue whales. We collected body size data from blue whales in the Gulfo Corcovado, Chile, during the austral summers of 2015 and 2017 using aerial photogrammetry from a remotely controlled drone to test the hypothesis that the Chilean blue whale is morphologically distinct from other Southern Hemisphere blue whale subspecies. We found the Chilean whale to be morphologically intermediate in both overall body length and relative tail length, thereby joining other diverse data in supporting the Chilean blue whale as a unique subspecific taxon. Additional photogrammetry studies of Antarctic, pygmy, and Chilean blue whales will help examine unique morphological variation within this species of conservation concern. To our knowledge, this is the first non-invasive small drone study to test a hypothesis for systematic biology.
    Description: We are thankful to Foundation MERI (Melimoyu Ecosystem Research Institute) for logistical and funding support. Cruise support in 2017 was provided by the Dalio Foundation (now ‘OceanX’).
    Keywords: Aerial photogrammetry ; Taxonomy ; Subspecies ; Whaling ; Systematics ; Unoccupied aerial systems ; UAS
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
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