Scholars@Duke
David William Johnston

David William Johnston

Professor of the Practice of Marine Conservation Ecology
Marine Science and Conservation
david.johnston@duke.edu
Suite 3103, Grainger Hall, 9 Circuit Drive, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

Drone-based monitoring and geomorphology of southern giant petrel nests near Palmer Station, western Antarctic Peninsula

Journal Article Polar Biology · May 1, 2024 Human activities and climate change threaten seabirds globally, and many species are declining from already small breeding populations. Monitoring of breeding colonies can identify population trends and important conservation concerns, but it is a persiste ... Full text Cite

Evidence of sociality and group foraging in Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis)

Journal Article Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · May 1, 2024 Top krill predators such as the Antarctic minke whale (AMW) serve a vital role within the fragile Antarctic sea-ice ecosystem. They are an abundant krill specialist, but their ecological role in the Antarctic remains poorly understood due to their cryptic ... Full text Cite

Evidence for Kilometer-Scale Biophysical Features at the Gulf Stream Front

Journal Article Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans · March 1, 2024 Understanding the interplay of ocean physics and biology at the submesoscale and below (<30 km) is an ongoing challenge in oceanography. While poorly constrained, these scales may be of critical importance for understanding how changing ocean dynamics will ... Full text Cite

Review of Satellite Remote Sensing and Unoccupied Aircraft Systems for Counting Wildlife on Land

Journal Article Remote Sensing · February 1, 2024 Although many medium-to-large terrestrial vertebrates are still counted by ground or aerial surveys, remote-sensing technologies and image analysis have developed rapidly in recent decades, offering improved accuracy and repeatability, lower costs, speed, ... Full text Cite

Growth and opportunities for drone surveillance in pinniped research

Journal Article Mammal Review · January 1, 2024 Pinniped species undergo uniquely amphibious life histories that make them valuable subjects for many domains of research. Pinniped research has often progressed hand-in-hand with technological frontiers of wildlife biology, and drones represent a leap for ... Full text Cite

Use and prevalence of novel bubble-net foraging strategy in Western Antarctic humpback whales

Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series · January 1, 2024 The innovation of new foraging strategies allows species to optimize their foraging in response to changing conditions. Humpback whales provide a good study species for this concept, as they utilize multiple novel foraging tactics across populations in div ... Full text Cite

Gray whale detection in satellite imagery using deep learning

Journal Article Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation · December 1, 2023 The combination of very high resolution (VHR) satellite remote sensing imagery and deep learning via convolutional neural networks provides opportunities to improve global whale population surveys through increasing efficiency and spatial coverage. Many wh ... Full text Cite

Comparison of 3D structural metrics on oyster reefs using unoccupied aircraft photogrammetry and terrestrial LiDAR across a tidal elevation gradient

Journal Article Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation · August 1, 2023 Physical structures generated from ecosystem engineers can have a cascade of impacts on the ecological community and the surrounding landscape. The Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica can form extensive intertidal reefs, whose three-dimensional structures ... Full text Cite

A surplus no more? Variation in krill availability impacts reproductive rates of Antarctic baleen whales.

Journal Article Global change biology · April 2023 The krill surplus hypothesis of unlimited prey resources available for Antarctic predators due to commercial whaling in the 20th century has remained largely untested since the 1970s. Rapid warming of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) over the past 50  ... Full text Cite

Minke whale feeding rate limitations suggest constraints on the minimum body size for engulfment filtration feeding.

Journal Article Nature ecology & evolution · April 2023 Bulk filter feeding has enabled gigantism throughout evolutionary history. The largest animals, extant rorqual whales, utilize intermittent engulfment filtration feeding (lunge feeding), which increases in efficiency with body size, enabling their gigantis ... Full text Cite

Shaped by Their Environment: Variation in Blue Whale Morphology across Three Productive Coastal Ecosystems

Journal Article Integrative Organismal Biology · January 1, 2023 Species ecology and life history patterns are often reflected in animal morphology. Blue whales are globally dis-tributed, with distinct populations that feed in different productive coastal regions worldwide. Thus, they provide an oppor-tunity to investig ... Full text Cite

Seasonal gain in body condition of foraging humpback whales along the Western Antarctic Peninsula

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · November 21, 2022 Most baleen whales are capital breeders that use stored energy acquired on foraging grounds to finance the costs of migration and reproduction on breeding grounds. Body condition reflects past foraging success and can act as a proxy for individual fitness. ... Full text Cite

Demography of an ice-obligate mysticete in a region of rapid environmental change.

Journal Article Royal Society open science · November 2022 Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis, AMW) are an abundant, ice-dependent species susceptible to rapid climatic changes occurring in parts of the Antarctic. Here, we used remote biopsy samples and estimates of length derived from unoccup ... Full text Cite

Variation in blubber cortisol levels in a recovering humpback whale population inhabiting a rapidly changing environment.

Journal Article Scientific reports · November 2022 Glucocorticoids are regularly used as biomarkers of relative health for individuals and populations. Around the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), baleen whales have and continue to experience threats, including commercial harvest, prey limitations and hab ... Full text Cite

Robust ocean color from drones: Viewing geometry, sky reflection removal, uncertainty analysis, and a survey of the Gulf Stream front

Journal Article Limnology and Oceanography: Methods · October 1, 2022 Accurate and robust retrieval of ocean color from remote sensing enables critical observations of aquatic natural systems, from open ocean biological oceanography, coastal biodiversity, and water quality for human health. In the last decade, studies have i ... Full text Cite

Drones address an observational blind spot for biological oceanography

Journal Article Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · September 1, 2022 Marine biological communities are dynamic across many scales in both space and time. Such multi-scale complexity complicates efforts to fully characterize these communities. Critical processes unfold on the order of 0.1–10 kilometers and 0.1–10 days, but c ... Full text Cite

Intra-seasonal variation in feeding rates and diel foraging behaviour in a seasonally fasting mammal, the humpback whale.

Journal Article Royal Society open science · July 2022 Antarctic humpback whales forage in summer, coincident with the seasonal abundance of their primary prey, the Antarctic krill. During the feeding season, humpback whales accumulate energy stores sufficient to fuel their fasting period lasting over six mont ... Full text Cite

Artificial intelligence for right whale photo identification: from data science competition to worldwide collaboration

Journal Article Mammalian Biology · June 1, 2022 Photo identification is an important tool in the conservation management of endangered species, and recent developments in artificial intelligence are revolutionizing existing workflows to identify individual animals. In 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmo ... Full text Cite

Estimation of Intertidal Oyster Reef Density Using Spectral and Structural Characteristics Derived from Unoccupied Aircraft Systems and Structure from Motion Photogrammetry

Journal Article Remote Sensing · May 1, 2022 Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) are an important component of the ecology and economy in coastal zones. Through the long-term consolidation of densely clustered shells, oyster reefs generate three-dimensional and complex structures that yield a sui ... Full text Cite

Data from: Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions

Dataset · March 31, 2022 This dataset features raw drone imagery, photogrammetric surface models and orthomosaic products, derived terrain rasters, and pinniped locations from a survey of Otter Island, AK, conducted on September 3, 2018. The study that uses these data leverages em ... Full text Cite

Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations.

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · March 2022 Despite their enormous size, whales make their living as voracious predators. To catch their much smaller, more maneuverable prey, they have developed several unique locomotor strategies that require high energetic input, high mechanical power output and a ... Full text Cite

Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions

Journal Article Drone Systems and Applications · January 1, 2022 The Arctic and its adjacent ecosystems are undergoing rapid ecological reorganization in response to the effects of global climate change, and sentinel species provide critical updates as these changes unfold. This study leverages emerging remote ... Full text Cite

Fast and Furious: Energetic Tradeoffs and Scaling of High-Speed Foraging in Rorqual Whales.

Journal Article Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · January 2022 Although gigantic body size and obligate filter feeding mechanisms have evolved in multiple vertebrate lineages (mammals and fishes), intermittent ram (lunge) filter feeding is unique to a specific family of baleen whales: rorquals. Lunge feeding is a high ... Full text Cite

Tracking wildlife energy dynamics with unoccupied aircraft systems and three-dimensional photogrammetry

Journal Article Methods in Ecology and Evolution · December 1, 2021 We present a novel application using unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS; drones) for structure-from-motion three-dimensional (3-D) photogrammetry of multiple, free-living animals simultaneously. Pinnipeds reliably haul out on shore for pupping and breeding e ... Full text Cite

First description of migratory behavior of humpback whales from an Antarctic feeding ground to a tropical calving ground

Journal Article Animal Biotelemetry · December 1, 2021 Background: Despite exhibiting one of the longest migrations in the world, half of the humpback whale migratory cycle has remained unexamined. Until now, no study has provided a continuous description of humpback whale migratory behavior from a feeding gro ... Full text Cite

Comparing Uncertainty Associated With 1-, 2-, and 3D Aerial Photogrammetry-Based Body Condition Measurements of Baleen Whales

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · November 26, 2021 Body condition is a crucial and indicative measure of an animal’s fitness, reflecting overall foraging success, habitat quality, and balance between energy intake and energetic investment toward growth, maintenance, and reproduction. Recently, drone-based ... Full text Cite

Baleen whale prey consumption based on high-resolution foraging measurements.

Journal Article Nature · November 2021 Baleen whales influence their ecosystems through immense prey consumption and nutrient recycling1-3. It is difficult to accurately gauge the magnitude of their current or historic ecosystem role without measuring feeding rates and prey consumed. ... Full text Cite

Temporally generalizable land cover classification: A recurrent convolutional neural network unveils major coastal change through time

Journal Article Remote Sensing · October 1, 2021 The ability to accurately classify land cover in periods before appropriate training and validation data exist is a critical step towards understanding subtle long-term impacts of climate change. These trends cannot be properly understood and distinguished ... Full text Cite

Bayesian approach for predicting photogrammetric uncertainty in morphometric measurements derived from drones

Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series · September 2, 2021 Increasingly, drone-based photogrammetry has been used to measure size and body condition changes in marine megafauna. A broad range of platforms, sensors, and altimeters are being applied for these purposes, but there is no unified way to predict photogra ... Full text Cite

Drones and deep learning produce accurate and efficient monitoring of large-scale seabird colonies

Journal Article Ornithological Applications · August 1, 2021 Population monitoring of colonial seabirds is often complicated by the large size of colonies, remote locations, and close inter- and intra-species aggregation. While drones have been successfully used to monitor large inaccessible colonies, the vast amoun ... Full text Cite

Contrasting trends in gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) pup production throughout the increasing northwest Atlantic metapopulation

Journal Article Marine Mammal Science · April 1, 2021 The northwest Atlantic subspecies of gray seal (Halicheorus grypus grypus) has been increasing for more than a half century and has reestablished breeding colonies in Canadian and US waters. In 2016, visual, oblique, and vertical large-format digital photo ... Full text Cite

Marine mammal conservation: over the horizon

Journal Article Endangered Species Research · January 1, 2021 Marine mammals can play important ecological roles in aquatic ecosystems, and their presence can be key to community structure and function. Consequently, marine mammals are often considered indicators of ecosystem health and flagship species. Yet, histori ... Full text Cite

Control surface-body size relationships in baleen whale species

Conference INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY · 2021 Cite

Sympatry and resource partitioning between the largest krill consumers around the Antarctic Peninsula

Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series · January 1, 2021 Understanding how closely related, sympatric species distribute themselves relative to their environment is critical to understanding ecosystem structure and function and predicting effects of environmental variation. The Antarctic Peninsula supports high ... Full text Open Access Cite

Deep learning for coastal resource conservation: automating detection of shellfish reefs

Journal Article Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation · December 1, 2020 It is increasingly important to understand the extent and health of coastal natural resources in the face of anthropogenic and climate-driven changes. Coastal ecosystems are difficult to efficiently monitor due to the inability of existing remotely sensed ... Full text Cite

Operational protocols for the use of drones in marine animal research

Journal Article Drones · December 1, 2020 The use of drones to study marine animals shows promise for the examination of numerous aspects of their ecology, behaviour, health and movement patterns. However, the responses of some marine phyla to the presence of drones varies broadly, as do the gener ... Full text Cite

Elasmobranch use of nearshore estuarine habitats responds to fine-scale, intra-seasonal environmental variation: Observing coastal shark density in a temperate estuary utilizing unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS)

Journal Article Drones · December 1, 2020 Many coastal shark species are known to use estuaries of the coastal southeastern United States for essential purposes like foraging, reproducing, and protection from predation. Temperate estuarine landscapes, such as the Rachel Carson Reserve (RCR) in Bea ... Full text Cite

Data and scripts from: A Bayesian approach for predicting photogrammetric uncertainty in morphometric measurements derived from UAS

Dataset · November 30, 2020 Increasingly, drone-based photogrammetry has been used to measure size and body condition changes in marine megafauna. A broad range of platforms, sensors, and altimeters are being applied for these purposes, but there is no unified way to predict uncertai ... Full text Cite

A semi-automated method for estimating adélie penguin colony abundance from a fusion of multispectral and thermal imagery collected with unoccupied aircraft systems

Journal Article Remote Sensing · November 2, 2020 Monitoring Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) populations on the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) provides information about the health of the species and the WAP marine ecosystem itself. In January 2017, surveys of Adélie penguin colonies at Avian Islan ... Full text Cite

The scale of the whale: Using video-tag data to evaluate sea-surface ice concentration from the perspective of individual Antarctic minke whales

Journal Article Animal Biotelemetry · October 12, 2020 Background: Advances in biologging technology allow researchers access to previously unobservable behavioral states and movement patterns of marine animals. To relate behaviors with environmental variables, features must be evaluated at scales relevant to ... Full text Cite

Lunge filter feeding biomechanics constrain rorqual foraging ecology across scale.

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · October 2020 Fundamental scaling relationships influence the physiology of vital rates, which in turn shape the ecology and evolution of organisms. For diving mammals, benefits conferred by large body size include reduced transport costs and enhanced breath-holding cap ... Full text Cite

Data from: Drones and deep learning produce accurate and efficient monitoring of large-scale seabird colonies

Dataset · September 17, 2020 Population monitoring in some colonial seabirds is often complicated by the large size of colonies, remote locations, and by close inter- and intra-species aggregation. While drones have been successfully used to monitor large inaccessible colonies, the va ... Full text Cite

Data from: A semi-automated method for estimating Adelie penguin colony abundance from a fusion of multispectral and thermal imagery collected with Unoccupied Aircraft Systems

Dataset · September 8, 2020 Monitoring Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) populations on the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) provides information about the health of the species and the WAP marine ecosystem itself. In January 2017, surveys of Adelie penguin colonies at Avian Islan ... Full text Cite

Cashing in on Spinners: Revenue Estimates of Wild Dolphin-Swim Tourism in the Hawaiian Islands

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · August 13, 2020 Wild dolphin-swim tourism has grown in specific locations where Hawaiian spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) have known resting habitat. The increased growth in dolphin-swim businesses has created an industry in Hawaii that earns an estimated $102 mil ... Full text Cite

The role of beach state and the timing of pre-storm surveys in determining the accuracy of storm impact assessments

Journal Article Marine Geology · July 1, 2020 Dune erosion principally occurs when water level exceeds the elevation of the beach and predicting erosion is progressively becoming more important for management as coastal populations increase, sea level rises, and storms become more powerful. This study ... Full text Cite

Modeling salt marsh vegetation height using unoccupied aircraft systems and structure from motion

Journal Article Remote Sensing · July 1, 2020 Salt marshes provide important services to coastal ecosystems in the southeastern United States. In many locations, salt marsh habitats are threatened by coastal development and erosion, necessitating large-scale monitoring. Assessing vegetation height acr ... Full text Cite

Daily and seasonal movements of cape cod gray seals vary with predation risk

Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series · June 25, 2020 White sharks Carcharodon carcharias and gray seals Halichoerus grypus are reestablishing their ecological roles within the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean, presenting an opportunity to understand gray seal movement and at-sea behavior under predation risk. As ... Full text Cite

Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) for Marine Ecosystem Restoration

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · June 12, 2020 Assessing, implementing and monitoring ecosystem restoration can be a labor intensive process, often short term (<3 years), and potentially destructive to the habitat. Advances in remote sensing technology are generating rapid, non-destructive methods for ... Full text Cite

Data from: Modeling salt marsh vegetation height using Unoccupied Aircraft Systems and Structure from Motion

Dataset · June 8, 2020 Salt marshes provide important services to coastal ecosystems of the southeastern United States. In many locations, salt marsh habitats are threatened by coastal development and erosion, necessitating large-scale monitoring. Assessing vegetation height acr ... Full text Cite

Shark detection probability from aerial drone surveys within a temperate estuary

Journal Article Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems · January 1, 2020 Drones are easy to operate over metres-to-kilometre scales, making them potentially useful to monitor species distributions and habitat use in shallow estuaries with widely varying environmental conditions. To investigate the utility of drones for surveyin ... Full text Cite

A standardized protocol for reporting methods when using drones for wildlife research

Journal Article Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems · January 1, 2020 Drones are increasingly popular tools for wildlife research, but it is important that the use of these tools does not overshadow reporting of methodological details required for evaluation of study designs. The diversity in drone platforms, sensors, and ap ... Full text Cite

Vulci 3000: A digital challenge for the interpretation of Etruscan and Roman cities

Chapter · 2020 "The study of the city, its display and dissemination are part of the information network of Digital Cities. This book compiles contributions on the city across space and time in a digital context. ... Cite

Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants.

Journal Article Science (New York, N.Y.) · December 2019 The largest animals are marine filter feeders, but the underlying mechanism of their large size remains unexplained. We measured feeding performance and prey quality to demonstrate how whale gigantism is driven by the interplay of prey abundance and harves ... Full text Cite

Data from: Deep learning for coastal resource conservation: automating detection of shellfish reefs

Dataset · November 6, 2019 It is increasingly important to understand the extent and health of coastal natural resources in the face of anthropogenic and climate-driven changes. Coastal ecosystems are difficult to efficiently monitor due to the inability of existing remotely-sensed ... Full text Cite

Applying Unoccupied Aircraft Systems to Study Human Behavior in Marine Science and Conservation Programs

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · October 18, 2019 The declining costs of Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS, aka drones), their ease of use, and their ability to collect high resolution data from a variety of sensors has resulted in an explosion of applications across the globe. Scientists working in the ma ... Full text Cite

Scaling of swimming performance in baleen whales.

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · October 2019 The scale dependence of locomotor factors has long been studied in comparative biomechanics, but remains poorly understood for animals at the upper extremes of body size. Rorqual baleen whales include the largest animals, but we lack basic kinematic data a ... Full text Cite

Rapid and accurate monitoring of intertidal Oyster Reef Habitat using unoccupied aircraft systems and structure from motion

Journal Article Remote Sensing · October 1, 2019 Oysters support an economically important fishery in many locations in the United States and provide benefits to the surrounding environment by filtering water, providing habitat for fish, and stabilizing shorelines. Changes in oyster reef health reflect v ... Full text Cite

Drones and convolutional neural networks facilitate automated and accurate cetacean species identification and photogrammetry

Journal Article Methods in Ecology and Evolution · September 1, 2019 The flourishing application of drones within marine science provides more opportunity to conduct photogrammetric studies on large and varied populations of many different species. While these new platforms are increasing the size and availability of imager ... Full text Cite

Geomorphic response of inlet barrier islands to storms

Journal Article Geomorphology · August 15, 2019 Inlet Barrier Islands (IBIs) are infrequently studied, and are often poorly represented in coastal lidar records. The fetch limited barrier island (FLBI) model was introduced to describe geomorphic changes of IBIs over time. The FLBI model predicts that th ... Full text Cite

A convolutional neural network for detecting sea turtles in drone imagery

Journal Article Methods in Ecology and Evolution · March 1, 2019 Marine megafauna are difficult to observe and count because many species travel widely and spend large amounts of time submerged. As such, management programmes seeking to conserve these species are often hampered by limited information about population le ... Full text Cite

Unoccupied Aircraft Systems in Marine Science and Conservation

Journal Article Annual Review of Marine Science · January 1, 2019 Full text Link to item Cite

Seasonal variability and individual consistency in gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) isotopic niches

Journal Article Canadian Journal of Zoology · January 1, 2019 Although it is often assumed that individuals in generalist populations are equivalent, recent research indicates that individual dietary specialization can be common in marine predators. Gray seals (Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius, 1791)) were considered lo ... Full text Cite

Robotic vehicles enable high-resolution light pollution sampling of sea turtle nesting beaches

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · December 20, 2018 Nesting sea turtles appear to avoid brightly lit beaches and often turn back to sea prematurely when exposed to artificial light. Observations and experiments have noted that nesting turtles prefer darker areas where buildings and high dunes act as light b ... Full text Cite

Chronic exposure of Hawaii Island spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) to human activities.

Journal Article Royal Society open science · October 2018 Habitat selection is strongly influenced by spatial variations in habitat quality and predation risk. Repeated exposure of wildlife to anthropogenic activities in important habitats may affect habitat selection, leading to negative biological consequences. ... Full text Cite

Integrating drone imagery into high resolution satellite remote sensing assessments of estuarine environments

Journal Article Remote Sensing · August 1, 2018 Very high-resolution satellite imagery (≤5 m resolution) has become available on a spatial and temporal scale appropriate for dynamic wetland management and conservation across large areas. Estuarine wetlands have the potential to be mapped at a detailed h ... Full text Cite

Accumulation of PBDEs in stranded harp (Pagophilus groenlandicus) and hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) from the Northeastern United States.

Journal Article Marine environmental research · July 2018 Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are highly lipophilic components of brominated flame retardants that are environmentally persistent and bioaccumulate. PBDEs are taken up from the gastrointestinal tract and accumulate mainly in fat depots and liver t ... Full text Cite

High pregnancy rates in humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) around the Western Antarctic Peninsula, evidence of a rapidly growing population.

Journal Article Royal Society open science · May 2018 Antarctic humpback whales are recovering from near extirpation from commercial whaling. To understand the dynamics of this recovery and establish a baseline to monitor impacts of a rapidly changing environment, we investigated sex ratios and pregnancy rate ... Full text Cite

Author Correction: Quantifying Nearshore Sea Turtle Densities: Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Population Assessments.

Journal Article Scientific reports · April 2018 A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper. ... Full text Open Access Cite

The potential of unmanned aerial systems for sea turtle research and conservation: A review and future directions

Journal Article Endangered Species Research · January 1, 2018 The use of satellite systems and manned aircraft surveys for remote data collection has been shown to be transformative for sea turtle conservation and research by enabling the collection of data on turtles and their habitats over larger areas than can be ... Full text Open Access Cite

Assessing the disturbance potential of small unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) on gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) at breeding colonies in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Journal Article PeerJ · January 2018 The use of small unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) for ecological studies and wildlife population assessments is increasing. These methods can provide significant benefits in terms of costs and reductions in human risk, but little is known if UAS-based app ... Full text Cite

Quantifying Nearshore Sea Turtle Densities: Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Population Assessments

Journal Article Scientific Reports · December 1, 2017 Although sea turtles face significant pressure from human activities, some populations are recovering due to conservation programs, bans on the trade of turtle products, and reductions in bycatch. While these trends are encouraging, the status of many popu ... Full text Cite

Google Haul Out: Earth Observation Imagery and Digital Aerial Surveys in Coastal Wildlife Management and Abundance Estimation.

Journal Article Bioscience · August 2017 As the sampling frequency and resolution of Earth observation imagery increase, there are growing opportunities for novel applications in population monitoring. New methods are required to apply established analytical approaches to data collected from new ... Full text Cite

Identifying overlap between humpback whale foraging grounds and the Antarctic krill fishery

Journal Article Biological conservation. · June 2017 The Antarctic krill fishery is the largest in the southern ocean, but currently operates without fine-scale information on whale movement and behavior. Using a multi-year dataset of satellite-tagged whales, as well as information on krill catch levels, we ... Full text Cite

Differential effects of human activity on Hawaiian spinner dolphins in their resting bays

Journal Article Global Ecology and Conservation · April 1, 2017 Hawaiian spinner dolphins display predictable daily behavior, using shallow bays to rest during the daytime, bays that are also frequented by humans. All previous research on the potential response of Hawaiian spinner dolphins to human activity has been co ... Full text Cite

Automated detection and enumeration of marine wildlife using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and thermal imagery.

Journal Article Scientific reports · March 2017 Estimating animal populations is critical for wildlife management. Aerial surveys are used for generating population estimates, but can be hampered by cost, logistical complexity, and human risk. Additionally, human counts of organisms in aerial imagery ca ... Full text Cite

Using acoustics to prioritize management decisions to protect coastal dolphins: A case study using Hawaiian spinner dolphins

Journal Article Marine Policy · January 1, 2017 For more than a decade, interactions between humans and Hawaiian spinner dolphins in their resting bays have been a concern for members of the general public, managers, scientists, policymakers, and tour operators. Hawaiian spinner dolphins are the target ... Full text Cite

Temporally and spatially partitioned behaviours of spinner dolphins: implications for resilience to human disturbance.

Journal Article Royal Society open science · January 2017 Selective forces shape the evolution of wildlife behavioural strategies and influence the spatial and temporal partitioning of behavioural activities to maximize individual fitness. Globally, wildlife is increasingly exposed to human activities which may a ... Full text Cite

Comparison of methods to estimate grey seal pup production at different colonies

Journal Article DFO Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat CSAS Research Document 2010/091 · 2017 Cite

Prey density and depth affect the fine-scale foraging behavior of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae in Sitka Sound, Alaska, USA

Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series · December 15, 2016 Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae are filter feeders that use discrete lunges to effectively capture densely aggregated prey. The objective of this research was to examine how foraging humpback whales in Southeast Alaska responded to varying prey patc ... Full text Cite

Evaluating monitoring methods for cetaceans

Journal Article Biological conservation. · September 2016 With increasing human pressures on wildlife comes a responsibility to monitor them effectively, particularly in an environment of declining research funds. Scarce funding resources compromise the level and efficacy of monitoring possible to detect trends i ... Full text Cite

Prevalence of influenza A virus in live-captured North Atlantic gray seals: a possible wild reservoir.

Journal Article Emerging microbes & infections · August 2016 Influenza A virus (IAV) has been associated with multiple unusual mortality events (UMEs) in North Atlantic pinnipeds, frequently attributed to spillover of virus from wild-bird reservoirs. To determine if endemic infection persists outside of UMEs, we und ... Full text Cite

Acoustic response of Hawaiian spinner dolphins to human disturbance

Conference Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics · July 10, 2016 Hawaiian spinner dolphins display predictable daily behavior, using shallow bays to rest during the daytime. The frequency and intensity of the interactions between humans and dolphins in these bays has prompted concern for the animals. All previous resear ... Full text Cite

Passive acoustic monitoring of coastally associated Hawaiian spinner dolphins, Stenella longirostris, ground-truthed through visual surveys.

Journal Article The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · July 2016 Effective decision making to protect coastally associated dolphins relies on monitoring the presence of animals in areas that are critical to their survival. Hawaiian spinner dolphins forage at night and rest during the day in shallow bays. Due to their pr ... Full text Cite

Multiple-stage decisions in a marine central-place forager.

Journal Article Royal Society open science · May 2016 Air-breathing marine animals face a complex set of physical challenges associated with diving that affect the decisions of how to optimize feeding. Baleen whales (Mysticeti) have evolved bulk-filter feeding mechanisms to efficiently feed on dense prey patc ... Full text Cite

Embracing conservation success of recovering humpback whale populations: Evaluating the case for downlisting their conservation status in Australia

Journal Article Marine Policy · April 1, 2016 Optimism and hope in conservation biology are supported by examples of endangered species recovery, such as the population growth observed in humpback whales in several of the world's oceans. In Australia, monitoring data suggest rapid recovery for both ea ... Full text Cite

Lifting baselines to address the consequences of conservation success.

Journal Article Trends in ecology & evolution · June 2015 Biologists and policymakers are accustomed to managing species in decline, but for the first time in generations they are also encountering recovering populations of ocean predators. Many citizens perceive these species as invaders and conflicts are increa ... Full text Cite

Using Ostrom's common-pool resource theory to build toward an integrated ecosystem-based sustainable cetacean tourism system in Hawai`i

Journal Article Journal of Sustainable Tourism · April 21, 2015 This paper explores the suitability of community-based conservation measures to complement a proposed command-and-control approach for two multi-user bays with spinner dolphins in Hawai`i, USA, which have considerable dolphin watching tourist activities an ... Full text Open Access Cite

Bio-logging of marine migratory species in the law of the sea

Journal Article Marine Policy · January 1, 2015 The use of advanced and emerging remote data-collection technologies, and in particular bio-logging of marine migratory species, raises fundamental questions about the scope of authority of coastal states to regulate marine scientific research in the water ... Full text Cite

Modeling the spatial and temporal dynamics of foraging movements of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Western Antarctic Peninsula.

Journal Article Movement ecology · January 2015 BackgroundA population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) spends the austral summer feeding on Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). These whales acquire their annual energetic needs during an ep ... Full text Cite

Trends in Stranding and By-Catch Rates of Gray and Harbor Seals along the Northeastern Coast of the United States: Evidence of Divergence in the Abundance of Two Sympatric Phocid Species?

Journal Article PloS one · January 2015 Harbor seals and gray seals are sympatric phocid pinnipeds found in coastal waters of the temperate and sub-Arctic North Atlantic. In the Northwest Atlantic, both species were depleted through a combination of subsistence hunts and government supported bou ... Full text Cite

Feeding rates and under-ice foraging strategies of the smallest lunge filter feeder, the Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis).

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · August 2014 Body size and feeding mode are two fundamental characteristics that determine foraging performance and ecological niche. As the smallest obligate lunge filter feeders, minke whales represent an ideal system for studying the physical and energetic limits of ... Full text Cite

Abundance and survival rates of the Hawai'i Island associated spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) stock.

Journal Article PloS one · January 2014 Reliable population estimates are critical to implement effective management strategies. The Hawai'i Island spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) is a genetically distinct stock that displays a rigid daily behavioural pattern, foraging offshore at night ... Full text Cite

Vigilance, resilience and failures of science and management: Spinner dolphins and tourism in Hawai’i

Chapter · January 1, 2014 © Cambridge University Press 2014.This chapter provides a brief overview of the complex relationship between tourism operations in Hawai'i and spinner dolphins – informed by what is known about the specialized behaviour and habitat needs of these animals. ... Full text Cite

Smartphones: Powerful tools for geoscience education

Journal Article Eos · November 19, 2013 Full text Cite

Seasonal variation in the spatial distribution of basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) in the lower Bay of Fundy, Canada.

Journal Article PloS one · January 2013 The local distribution of basking sharks in the Bay of Fundy (BoF) is unknown despite frequent occurrences in the area from May to November. Defining this species' spatial habitat use is critical for accurately assessing its Special Concern conservation st ... Full text Cite

Factors affecting harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) strandings in the Northwest Atlantic.

Journal Article PloS one · January 2013 The effects of climate change on high latitude regions are becoming increasingly evident, particularly in the rapid decline of sea ice cover in the Arctic. Many high latitude species dependent on sea ice are being forced to adapt to changing habitats. Harp ... Full text Cite

Initial density estimates of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae in the inshore waters of the western Antarctic Peninsula during the late autumn

Journal Article Endangered Species Research · August 20, 2012 In the Southern Ocean, humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae were depleted by commercial whaling operations during the 20th century, but many populations now appear to be recovering. Previous surveys of whale distribution along the western Antarctic Penin ... Full text Cite

The effects of climate change on harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus).

Journal Article PloS one · January 2012 Harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) have evolved life history strategies to exploit seasonal sea ice as a breeding platform. As such, individuals are prepared to deal with fluctuations in the quantity and quality of ice in their breeding areas. It remain ... Full text Cite

Ecological niche modeling of sympatric krill predators around Marguerite Bay, Western Antarctic Peninsula

Journal Article Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography · July 1, 2011 Adélie penguins (. Pygoscelis adeliae), carabeater seals (. Lobodon carcinophagus), humpback (. Megaptera novaeangliae), and minke whales (. Balaenoptera bonaernsis) are found in the waters surrounding the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Each species relies p ... Full text Cite

Super-aggregations of krill and humpback whales in Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctic Peninsula.

Journal Article PloS one · April 2011 Ecological relationships of krill and whales have not been explored in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), and have only rarely been studied elsewhere in the Southern Ocean. In the austral autumn we observed an extremely high density (5.1 whales per km( ... Full text Cite

Towards a precautionary approach to managing Canada's commercial harp seal hunt

Journal Article ICES Journal of Marine Science · March 1, 2010 The Canadian government's approach to the management of its commercial harp seal hunt is compared with other precautionary approaches developed for setting anthropogenic removal limits for marine mammal populations. For Canada's harp seal hunt, the current ... Full text Cite

Guidelines for the treatment of marine mammals in field research

Journal Article Marine Mammal Science · July 1, 2009 Full text Cite

An acoustic survey of beaked whales at Cross Seamount near Hawaii.

Journal Article The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · February 2009 An acoustic record from Cross Seamount, southwest of Hawaii, revealed sounds characteristic of beaked whale echolocation at the same relative abundance year-around (270 of 356 days), occurring almost entirely at night. The most common sound had a linear fr ... Full text Cite

Temporal patterns in the acoustic signals of beaked whales at Cross Seamount.

Journal Article Biology letters · April 2008 Seamounts may influence the distribution of marine mammals through a combination of increased ocean mixing, enhanced local productivity and greater prey availability. To study the effects of seamounts on the presence and acoustic behaviour of cetaceans, we ... Full text Cite

Flow-field observations of a tidally driven island wake used by marine mammals in the Bay of Fundy, Canada

Journal Article Fisheries Oceanography · September 1, 2007 Correlations between fine-scale oceanographic features and aggregations of marine mammals are frequently reported, but the physical forces shaping these relationships are rarely explored. We conducted a series of oceanographic observations and remote sensi ... Full text Cite

Habitat partitioning and the influence of benthic topography and oceanography on the distribution of fin and minke whales in the Bay of Fundy, Canada

Journal Article Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom · February 1, 2007 We collected data on the distribution of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in the Bay of Fundy, Canada from a whale-watching vessel during commercial tours between July and September 2002. A single observer re ... Full text Cite

Responses of cetaceans to anthropogenic noise

Journal Article Mammal Review · January 1, 2007 1. Since the last thorough review of the effects of anthropogenic noise on cetaceans in 1995, a substantial number of research reports has been published and our ability to document response(s), or the lack thereof, has improved. While rigorous measurement ... Full text Cite

Fin whales Balaenoptera physalus and minke whales Balaenoptera acutorostrata exploit a tidally driven island wake ecosystem in the Bay of Fundy

Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series · December 23, 2005 Marine predators forage in tidally induced oceanographic features, where they exploit predictable aggregations of prey. Very little, however, is known about how the physical forcing within these features affects their behaviour at a fine scale. During the ... Full text Cite

Effects of fine-scale oceanographic features on the distribution and movements of harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena in the Bay of Fundy

Journal Article Marine Ecology Progress Series · June 23, 2005 We describe an integrative approach to studying the fine-scale distribution of harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena in the Bay of Fundy, using satellite telemetry, line transect surveys and remote sensing techniques. Analysis of satellite telemetry data fro ... Full text Cite

Resonance and dissonance: Science, ethics, and the sonar debate

Journal Article MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE · October 2004 Cite

Resonance and dissonance: Science, ethics and the sonar debate

Journal Article Marine Mammal Science · 2004 Cite

The effect of acoustic harassment devices on harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Bay of Fundy, Canada

Journal Article Biological Conservation · November 1, 2002 Many salmon aquaculture sites in the Bay of Fundy employ acoustic harassment devices (AHDs) to deter seals from approaching fish pens. These devices may also exclude harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from important habitat. To determine the effects of ... Full text Cite

An Evaluation of Management Objectives for Canada's Commercial Harp Seal Hunt, 1996‐1998

Journal Article Conservation Biology. · June 2000 The largest existing hunt for marine mammals is Canada's commercial hunt for Northwest Atlantic harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus). From 1995 to 1998, the total allowable catch was set at a level that the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans calc ... Full text Cite

Summary of current knowledge of harbour porpoises in US and Canadian Atlantic waters

Journal Article Forty-sixth report of the International Whaling Commission · December 1, 1996 From the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena population, the average abundance was 47 200 for 1991 and 1992. Based on observer programs, in 1993 the bycatch in the groundfish sink gillnet fishery from the US Gulf of Maine was 1400 ... Cite