[MARMAM] New Publication: Epigenetic Aging in Bottlenose Dolphins

[Ashley Barratclough]

Dear Marmam Colleagues, 

My co-authors and I are happy to share the publication of our recent manuscript 
entitled Accurate Epigenetic Aging in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), 
an Essential Step in the Conservation of at-Risk Dolphins. 

Citation: Barratclough,A.;Smith, C.R.; Gomez, F.M.; Photopoulou, T.; Takeshita, 
R.; Pirotta, E.; Thomas, L.; McClain, A.M.; Parry, C.; Zoller, J.A.; et al. 
Accurate Epigenetic Aging in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), an 
Essential Step in the Conservation of at-Risk Dolphins. J. Zool. Bot. Gard. 
2021, 2, 416–420. https://doi.org/10.3390/ jzbg2030030 

Abstract: Epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation, allows for the estimation 
of animal age from blood or remotely sampled skin. This multi-tissue epigenetic 
age estimation clock uses 110 longitudinal samples from 34 Navy bottlenose 
dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), identifying 195 cytosine-phosphate- guanine 
sites associated with chronological aging via cross-validation with one 
individual left out in each fold (R2 = 0.95). With a median absolute error of 
2.5 years, this clock improves age estimation capacity in wild dolphins, 
helping conservation efforts and enabling a better understanding of population 
demographics.
The full paper is open access and can be found at: https://www.mdpi.com/1218674 

Please contact me with any questions at ashley.barratclo...@nmmf.org

Cheers, 

Ashley 

Ashley Barratclough
BVetMed, MSc WAH, MS, MRCVS
Conservation Medicine Veterinarian
National Marine Mammal Foundation 
2240 Shelter Island Drive, 
San Diego, CA 92107




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[MARMAM] IMMS animal training internship (winter)

[Jennifer Pishnyuk]

The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, MS is accepting 
applications for our winter term. *The deadline for applications is Sept 1st.* 
Please visit our website for details on how to apply or send questions to 
jpishn...@imms.org
https://imms.org/internship/
The IMMS Animal Training Internship Program is designed as a way for 
students/individuals interested in a career in animal care and training to gain 
valuable experience in a real-world setting. Interns will primarily be trained 
in aspects of animal care, but will also participate in other activities at 
IMMS. Our goal is to give interns a well-rounded experience in a variety of 
areas while providing expert training and experience.
The IMMS animal care and training staff is in charge of caring for Atlantic 
bottlenose dolphins, California sea lions, and large parrots. Interns will work 
directly with animal care staff and be exposed to all aspects of the daily 
routine. Heavy emphasis is placed on basic tasks such as food preparation, and 
daily cleaning and facility maintenance. Interns will learn how to train 
animals with operant conditioning through observation and may assist during 
sessions. Interns will also complete a project during their internship, as well 
as help staff with daily water quality. Because we want interns to have a 
well-rounded experience, they will also be asked to assist in other 
departments. Interns may participate as 1) environmental educators and assist 
in giving presentations to the public, 2) research assistants that help with 
our many wild dolphin based research studies, or 3) emergency responders as 
IMMS is part of the Southeast Regional Marine Mammal Stranding Network and 
responds to stranded marine mammals and sea turtles.
Interested applicants must follow the directions listed on the website to apply.
Interns must be:
• 18 years or older.
• A recent graduate or actively pursuing a college degree in the sciences.
• Willing to accept the internship as an unpaid position.
• Able to commit to a minimum of at least 12 weeks, 40 hours a week. The 
internship can be extended depending on work performance.
• Available to work weekdays, weekends, and holidays.
• Able to lift 50 lbs, work long hours on your feet, and work outside in 
extreme conditions.
• Able to maintain a positive attitude, good work ethic, sense of 
responsibility, and a strong willingness to learn.
• Financially stable enough to obtain housing and transportation, though IMMS 
staff will do their best to assist you in making arrangements.
• Able to comply with IMMS rules and regulations.



Jennifer Pishnyuk
Marine Mammal Trainer
Animal Care Internship Coordinator
Institute for Marine Mammal Studies
Gulfport, MS

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[MARMAM] SMM Editor’s Select Series for August 19th: Population genomic structure of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Australian and New Zealand waters

[Student Members-at-Large Society for Marine Mammalogy]

Greetings MARMAM!

Join us on *19 August 2021 at 6 PM Pacific Time (**August 20th at **1 AM
UTC / 10:30 AM ASCT)* for the next SMM Seminar Editor's Select
Series: Population genomic structure of killer whales (*Orcinus orca*) in
Australian and New Zealand waters with Isabelle Reeves of
Flinders University.
Free to attend. Registration required. Presented online on Zoom.
Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CqOz80alTrqdJ-FopiQljw

Space on Zoom is limited to the first 100 attendees. The talk will also be
streamed live on the SMM Facebook page
.

*The SMM Seminar Editor's Select Series highlights the latest and most
exciting marine mammal science published in the Marine Mammal Science
Journal. This is your chance to engage with marine mammal scientists, learn
and ask questions from anywhere in the world. All are welcome. *

*About this talk:*
In Australasia, seasonal killer whale aggregations have been recently
discovered and they have known to also reside year-round in New Zealand
waters. However, there is currently limited information available about the
species in these regions and therefore effective conservation management
strategies are lacking. Here, we present the first study on the number of
killer whale populations and their connectivity in Australasia using DNA.
We discovered a minimum of three populations of killer whales, one in
tropical and a second in temperate Western Australia, and a third in New
Zealand. They each have distinct female-driven societies and appear to have
little movement between them with low number of breeders. These findings
can assist conservation management of these animals in the region.

*About the presenter: *
Isabella is currently a PhD Candidate in the Cetacean Ecology, Behaviour
and Evolution Lab and the Molecular Ecology Lab at Flinders University in
South Australia. She has over five years of experience researching
cetaceans, leading her to obtain a skillset predominantly in
photo-identification methods and using genetics to understand
population-level questions for conservation. Her research now focusses on
using genetics to broadly understand cetacean evolution, with a focus on
Australasian killer whales.

Best regards,
Eric Angel Ramos, Ph.D. Candidate
*Ayça Eleman, Ph.D. *Candidate
*Theresa-Anne Tatom-Naecker, Ph.D. Student*
*Student Members-at-Large*
Society for Marine Mammalogy

Check us out on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/marinemammalogy/

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[MARMAM] New Paper: Separating overlapping echolocation: An updated method for estimating the number of echolocating animals in high background noise levels

[Rebecca Hamilton]

Dear MARMAMers,

My co-authors and I are pleased to announce the publication of our recent
paper in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Rebecca A. Hamilton, Josefin Starkhammar, Stefanie K. Gazda, and Richard C.
Connor , "Separating overlapping echolocation: An updated method for
estimating the number of echolocating animals in high background noise
levels", The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 150, 709-717
(2021) https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0005756

ABSTRACT
Much can be learned by investigating the click trains of odontocetes,
including estimating the number of vocalizing animals and comparing the
acoustic behavior of different individuals. Analyzing such information
gathered from groups of echolocating animals in a natural environment is
complicated by two main factors: overlapping echolocation produced by
multiple animals at the same time, and varying levels of background noise.
Starkhammar et al. [(2011a). Biol. Lett. 7(6), 836–839] described an
algorithm that measures and compares the frequency spectra of individual
clicks to identify groups of clicks produced by different individuals. This
study presents an update to this click group separation algorithm that
improves performance by comparing multiple click characteristics. There is
a focus on reducing error when high background noise levels cause false
click detection and recordings are of a limited frequency bandwidth, making
the method applicable to a wide range of existing datasets. This method was
successfully tested on recordings of free-swimming foraging dolphins with
both low and high natural background noise levels. The algorithm can be
adjusted via user-set parameters for application to recordings with varying
sampling parameters and to species of varying click characteristics,
allowing for estimates of the number of echolocating animals in
free-swimming groups.

The full paper is available Open-Access here:
https://asa.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1121/10.0005756

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me at
rebecca.hamilto...@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

Kind regards,
Becca Hamilton

___

PhD Student, University of Manchester

Field Manager, Cedar Key Dolphin Project

MS in Biology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Twitter: @BeccaAHamilton  | Website:
www.rahamilton.weebly.com


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[MARMAM] Online Course Now Open for Registration - An Introduction To Using GIS/QGIS In Biological Research, 6th - 9th September 2021

[cdmacleod]

_GIS In Ecology_ will be holding a new online training course on using 
GIS in biological research between the 6th and 9th of September 2021. 
GIS has become a critical skill for many marine mammalogists regardless 
of whether they are working on academic research, conservation, 
management or environmental impact assessment, and this course provides 
the perfect introduction for those who wish to learn how to use GIS for 
any of these purposes. While aimed at biologists in general, it in 
includes a number of practical exercises that use marine mammal data 
(including calculating abundance per unit survey effort based on data on 
dolphins from Scotland, and calculating grids of species richness using 
data on beaked whales from the North Atlantic). In addition, the course 
will primarily be taught using QGIS, a free, open-source GIS software 
package, meaning that the skills learned on this course can be used by 
anyone working with marine mammals, regardless of their budgets and 
funding.


The course will be held using the Zoom video-conferencing platform, and 
will consist of four three-hour sessions. One session will need to be 
completed each day. However, you will have a choice of completing it 
between 10:00 and 13:00 British Summer Time (primarily for those living 
in Europe, Asia and Africa) or 18:00 to 21:00 British Summer Time 
(primarily for those living in North and South America). This choice of 
time slots for each session allows participants from as wide a range of 
time zones to participate in the course.


Attendance will be limited to a maximum of 24 people per session. The 
fees for this course are GBP 250 per person (with a discounted rate of 
GBP 195 for students, the unwaged and those working for registered 
charities). To book a place on it, or for more information, visit  the 
course's dedicated webpage at 
http://gisinecology.com/online-course-an-introduction-to-using-gis-qgis-in-biological-research/, 
 Alternatively, you can email i...@gisinecology.com with the subject 
line _Introductory Online GIS Course September 202_1.


This course will be taught by Dr Colin D. MacLeod, the author of _ GIS 
For Biologists: A Practical Introduction For Undergraduates_ [1] 
(Pictish Beast Publications), and will provide an introduction to using 
GIS in a wide variety of biological research situations ranging from the 
basics of making maps through to studying the spread of diseases and 
creating maps of species biodiversity. It will consist of a series of 
background sessions on using GIS mixed in with practical sessions where 
you will work directly with GIS software to complete various tasks which 
biological researchers commonly need to be able to do.


Each three-hour session will consist of a background talk covering a 
specific topic, followed by practical exercises based on instructions 
from one of our workbooks. While you are encouraged to remain online 
during the practical sessions, you can choose to go off-line as you work 
though the exercises (or if you need to take a break). However, if you 
have any questions, the course instructor will be available for you to 
ask any questions you wish at any point.


This course will primarily be based around QGIS (also known as Quantum 
GIS), which provides a user-friendly, open-source, free alternative to 
commercial GIS software packages, and it is becoming increasingly widely 
used in both academic and commercial organisations As a result, it is 
aimed at both those with no GIS experience, but wish to learn how to to 
do GIS with QGIS, and also those who are familiar with using commercial 
GIS software, such as ArcGIS, but who wish to learn how to use QGIS as 
an alternative. However, this course is taught using 
software-independent approach, and it is also open to those who wish to 
learn how to use ArcGIS to do biological GIS.


When you attend this course you will receive a free copy of _GIS For 
Biologists: A Practical Introduction for Undergraduates [1] _as the 
practical exercises in that course are based on the ones contained in 
that book.


At the end of the course, all attendees will receive a certificate of 
attendance and completion. Each certificate is embossed with the GIS In 
Ecology official stamp to prevent its fraudulent reproduction. In 
addition, each certificate has its own unique identification number that 
we will record, along with your name, meaning that we can verify the 
authenticity of the certificates we issue (and the course you have 
completed) on request.


To attend this course, you must have your own laptop computer with an 
appropriate GIS software package installed on it. Our recommended GIS 
software for this course is the freely available QGIS software. For 
those wishing to use QGIS, you will need to download and install QGIS 
2.8.3 (for those using Windows computers) or 2.8.4 (for those using 
Macs) rather than the latest version. The best way to download the 
correct version of QGIS for this 

[MARMAM] New Paper: A Community Science Approach to addressing Seal-Fishery Interactions in New England

[andrea bogomolni]

Dear MARMAM colleagues,

We are happy to share our new open access community case study publication
in Frontiers in Conservation Science:

Bogomolni, A., Nichols, O. C., & Allen, D. (2021). *A Community Science
Approach to Conservation Challenges Posed by Rebounding Marine Mammal
Populations: Seal-Fishery Interactions in New England*. *Frontiers in
Conservation Science*, *2*, 34.

The article can be accessed here:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.696535/full

Abstract:
Between 1880–1962, gray and harbor seals were targeted in legal seal bounty
hunts across Maine and Massachusetts due to a perceived competition with
commercial fisheries. Following their extirpation 50 years ago, legislative
protections allowed seals to recolonize historical grounds along the New
England coast. With this conservation success story, conflict has
re-emerged as seen in the numerous media articles reflecting a temperament
beckoning to the past century, with calls to cull the population and the
spread of misinformation. The return of seals after decades of near-absence
has created a new ecological and psychological baseline for New Englanders
where for three generations, seals were rarely present. Although seals are
statutorily protected species, unlike the tools and resources available for
depleted, threatened or endangered species, the support needed to increase
opportunities for coexistence of humans with rebounding pinnipeds, are
comparatively lacking. Even as gray seals have the highest fisheries
bycatch levels of any marine mammal in the U.S., resources to address these
management challenges are minimal due to limitations and prioritization
processes for committing available support. While seal conservation has
been a success, the manner in which management is often separately applied
to ecosystem elements (e.g., harvested species, protected species)
contributes to knowledge gaps, and a disconnect between the goals of
conservation to sustainably utilize natural resources while also protecting
the intrinsic value of resources for ecosystem health. Solutions to such
coexistence challenges could benefit from a more holistic ecosystem
conservation approach. To address these disconnects, a two-day workshop was
convened to understand seal-fishery interactions where we provided
opportunities for community members to meet and learn from one another
including, but not limited to, fishermen, natural resource managers, marine
mammal stranding response personnel and scientists. A convening that might
otherwise result in tumultuous and adversarial engagement, we used as a
tool to engage. This community science approach led to long-term
relationships that have allowed for successful applied, and community
driven, solutions. Here we share the lessons learned and subsequent
partnerships. Our intent is to share our approach to address other marine
mammal conservation conflict challenges, allowing for collaborative
pathways toward long-term coexistence.

THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF THE RESEARCH TOPIC
:

Planning and Decision-Making in Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence



https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/16505/planning-and-decision-making-in-human-wildlife-conflict-and-coexistence#articles


Best,

Andrea Bogomolni, Owen Nichols and Dee Allen


You can reach us at:


abogomo...@gmail.com

nich...@coastalstudies.org

dal...@mmc.gov
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