Evidence collected from a recent research project suggests the world’s largest animals — blue whales — are successfully breeding off the Taranaki coast, but their future is under threat from climate change. Scientists from Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute spent three weeks at sea, studying the impacts of climate change on blue whales and krill in the South Taranaki Bight as part of the SAPPHIRE Project.
Leigh Torres said the entire population of gray whales along the western continental shelf is more like around 15,000. Most of them will be on the move during this season, which means not quite that number will be roving past the Oregon and Washington coastline during this season.
Leigh Torres's work has taken her all over the world as she studies the behavior and environment of marine animals including blue whales. She recently returned from a research trip off the coast of New Zealand.
Last summer, Sophia Kormann joined a decade-long research project studying gray whale foraging ecology with Oregon State University as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates program. For Kormann, her experience in Oregon was an opportunity to explore her interest in biostatistics in an exciting environment. She reflects on her statistical contributions to the project on the Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory blog.
Drone video of gray whales captured over seven years off Oregon has revealed new details about how the giant marine mammals find and eat food. “Before this study, we thought that any whale used any of those behaviors,” said the lead author of both studies, Clara Bird, a researcher at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. “No one really thought that there was a pattern in who used which behavior.”
Drone footage captured by researchers in Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute is offering new insight into the acrobatics undertaken by gray whales foraging in the waters off the coast of Oregon. The findings were just published in two new papers authored by Clara Bird and co-authored by Leigh Torres.
Leigh Torres and her team of scientists from Oregon State University perform field studies on the conveniently located whales.
A study by OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute and colleagues reveals that gray whales in a small group that sticks close to the shores of the Pacific Northwest appear to be shrinking — and shockingly quickly.
A new paper based on data collected from MMI shows that Pacific Coast Feeding Group gray whales have gotten significantly smaller over the past two decades. The smaller size raises questions of whether this subgroup of whales can maintain a healthy population.
Doctoral candidate Lisa Hildebrand was interviewed by Jefferson Public Radio about her recent publication in Scientific Reports documenting the relationships between kelp forest health and gray whales. [Audio]
A new study from MMI shows that booming sea urchin populations result in less prey for gray whales. The paper is first-authored by PhD candidate Lisa Hildebrand and published in Nature Scientific Reports.
In a hearing by the Environment Protection Authority of New Zealand, Leigh Torres testified about the potential impact of industrial noise pollution on a population of blue whales in the South Taranaki Bight.
“I have spent a lot of time at sea in all oceans of the world, and I’ve seen a lot of amazing things,” said Lisa Ballance, director of OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute. “A hoary bat was a first for all of us. It’s a reminder of the wonder of nature, and of its vulnerability.”
What has [Clara] Bird particularly intrigued is the idea that gray whales now starting to show up in the Atlantic Ocean may be early efforts to establish the same sort of separate population that the Pacific Coast Feeding Group has successfully accomplished closer to home.
PhD student Lisa Hildebrand talks to the Marine Mammal Science Podcast about her research studying the prey of gray whales.
