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Overview


Hi I'm Nick! I'm currently a Marine Science and Conservation PhD student in the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment. I'm advised by Dr Douglas Nowacek of the Bioacoustics and Engineering Lab at Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, North Carolina. I was previously an undergraduate at Duke University (Class of 2023) where I majored in biology and minored in environmental science.

I'm interested in marine mammal bio-acoustics and conservation, of which I've worked on a variety of species including: North Atlantic right whales, goose-beaked whales, Florida manatees, short-finned pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins, and false killer whales. More broadly, I'm interested in bioacoustics, ecology, and animal behavior.

I'm a former Rachel Carson Scholar at Duke university and worked collaboratively with the Duke Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Bioacoustics and Engineering Lab, and Mote Marine Laboratory on an undergraduate thesis "Behavioral impacts of extended viewership on Florida manatees (T. m. latirostris) by ecotourist watercraft".

Asides from my obsession with marine mammals, I love the outdoors and you'll probably catch me outside taking pictures of birds or other small critters. I am an avid sports fan and keep up with basketball, football, and soccer.

Feel free to reach out to me and check out some of my work through linkedin or any of the links below!

Duke Email: nicholas.kaney@duke.edu
Personal: nickkaney@gmail.com

Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/nickkaney.bsky.social
Twitter/X: https://x.com/NickKaney

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nick-Kaney
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KZ1ZVw4AAAAJ&hl=en
Web of Science: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/LUY-7353-2024?state=%7B%7D
ORCID: https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0009-0006-0533-1249

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Recent Publications


Acoustic signature of plastic marine debris mimics the prey items of deep-diving cetaceans.

Journal Article Marine pollution bulletin · December 2024 It is largely assumed that odontocetes voluntarily ingest plastic marine debris because they visually mistake it for prey. However, deep-diving whales do not rely on visual systems to forage and instead employ echolocation. Whether or not these whales misi ... Full text Open Access Cite

Estimating received level in behavioral response studies through the use of ancillary data.

Journal Article The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · December 2024 Marine mammals are known to respond to various human noises, including and in certain cases, strongly, to military active sonar. Responses include small and short-term changes in diving behavior, horizontal avoidance of an ensonified area, and mass strandi ... Full text Cite
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