June 2018 - MARMAM - devlists.uvic.ca

SECOND CALL: marine megafauna of the Falklands - Volunteer opportunity
by simo_liste＠tiscali.it 10 Jun '18

10 Jun '18

VOLUNTEERS FIELD HELPERS RECRUITMENT - SECOND CALL ------------------------------------ PROJECT: Long term study of MARINE MEGAFAUNA of the FALKLAND ISLANDS. POSITION: Volunteer (unpaid) field helper. DURATION: about 3 months and a half, two shifts: 1) late August 2018 to early December 2018, and 2) early December 2018 to late March 2019; exact dates in the field to be established later. LOCATION: Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands, Southern Atlantic Ocean. Sea Lion Island on Google maps: https://www.google.com/maps?q=Sea%25Lion%25Island,%2520Falkland%25Islands>https://www.google.com/maps?q=Sea%25Lion%25Island,%2520Falkland%25Islands DUTIES: - Southern elephant seals: counts, marking, mapping, observation of behavior, pup handling, collection of samples, sedation and handling of females for TDR and satellite tag deployment - Killer whales: photoidentification, observation and videotaping of behavior, necropsies of preys - Falklands skuas: counts, nest identification and mapping, observation of behavior - Raptors: counts, nest identification and mapping, observation of behavior - Marine birds: counts and mapping of different species (different species of penguins, cormorants, gulls, geese, and ducks) - Environmental monitoring: collection of microclimatic data, habitat classification, collection of GIS data DEADLINE: June 17th 2018; please note that, capabilities being equal, positions will be allocated with a first come first served policy. DESCRIPTION Volunteer field helpers are required for the 2018-2019 field season of various long-term research projects on marine megafauna of the Falkland Islands, carried out by the Elephant Seal Research Group. The field work site is Sea Lion Island. Successful applicants will receive adequate training and will help with: - a long term project (23 years) on individual life histories and breeding strategies of southern elephant seals - a long term project (5 years) on social and hunting behaviour of mammal-eating killer whales - a study of Falklands skua demography, behavior and vocal communication - various monitoring projects on the different marine and raptor bird species breeding on Sea Lion Island - general environmental monitoring of the island, including the collection of data for the Sea Lion Island GIS Volunteers will be supervised by the PIs and/or by trained technicians. Previous experience of field work is appreciated but not essential. We are recruiting helpers for two shifts; - late August to early December: focus is elephant seals breeding, killer whales predation on weaned elephant seal pups, establishment of pairs and territories by skuas - early December to late March: focus are elephant seal weaned pups and moulters, general killer whales activity and behavior, study of skuas behavior and communication, monitoring of breeding of marine birds and raptors, collection of general environmental data Only applicants who can stay for a whole shift (about 3 months and a half) can be taken into consideration. No volunteer is allowed to apply to stay for both shifts, so please state clearly in your cover letter for which one you are applying (first or second) or, if you are available for both, which of the two you prefer (although we cannot guarantee to meet your preference). Applicants are required to pay all expenses to get to Sea Lion Island, and telephone/Internet expenses while there. Accommodation and food at SLI will be provided by the ESRG. Accommodation on SLI is rather basic and self-catering, but comfortable for a field research setting (heating, hot water, shower, Internet connection hotspot in the nearby lodge). We are asking volunteers a 300 GBP contribution to help us with management expenses and individual research equipment repair/maintenance. Applicants will be required to work in the field for the whole length of the day, seven days per week, with just an half day of rest per week. Volunteers are required to help with cooking, cleaning of their cabin and general maintenance tasks. The data collection protocol is complex, the field work is physically demanding, and the weather is often not very good. People without a good tolerance to cold are discouraged to apply. It is a very rewarding, but demanding, experience. The island is a wonderful place with large unspoiled sandy beaches, and a very rich and very tame wildlife. It is the best hot spot for wildlife watching in the Falklands, it is an Important Birds Area and an Important Plants Area, a RAMSAR convention site, and a National Nature Reserve. APPLICATION To apply please send 1) a cover letter describing your interest in the position and summarizing your qualifications for it, 2) a detailed CV, and 3) a copy of an identification document (with picture). Reference letters (3 maximum) are appreciated, but not essential, and should be sent directly to the email address mentioned below. If you think you may have extra documentation that can be relevant (eg, copy of a thesis, certificates, etc.) please mention them in your email, but don't send them unless we ask. Please put all documents in a single PDF file, name it as "your_surname - ESRG2018 - application", and email it as an attachment of an email to Dr. Filippo Galimberti (fil_esrg(a)eleseal.org) Deadline for first call applications is June 17th, 2018. Due to the limited number of positions available we warmly suggest perspective candidates to apply as soon as possible. Further details about the position are available here: http://www.eleseal.org/info_helpers_eng.html Thanks The ESRG team Con Mobile Open 6 GB hai 6 Giga, 600 minuti e 300 SMS per il tuo smartphone a 9€ al mese per sempre. Passa ora a Tiscali Mobile, il nostro mese è vero! http://tisca.li/Open6GB0318

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Opportunity for students in Baltic Sea
by Isabella Kratzer 10 Jun '18

10 Jun '18

Dear MARMAM-members, as summer is coming up we have an exciting research project going on in the Baltic Sea in Denmark. We are looking at behavioral reactions of harbor porpoises to (modified) gillnets as well as gillnet components in order to identify tools for an efficient by-catch reduction in the gillnet fishery. We will be on the beautiful island Fyn and the weather so far has been very promising! We are looking for (student) volunteers in the period between July 23rd and Sept 9th to help us watching for porpoises via theodolite as well as aerial observations via Helikite and also using hydrophones. Duties comprise a variety of tasks ranging from simply watching out for porpoises to helping when deploying/retrieving gear from the boat and other tasks. We will provide room and board and lots of fun, unfortunately there cannot be a compensation. If you are interested - also for just one or two weeks in the given period - let me know. We will be happy to provide an opportunity to learn more about these fascinating animals. Please let me know if you have any questions. Looking foward to hearing from you! Kind regards, Isabella -- Isabella Kratzer Thünen-Institut für Ostseefischerei/ Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries Alter Hafen Süd 2 18069 Rostock (Germany) Tel: +49 381 8116 147 Fax: +49 381 8116 199 Mail: isabella.kratzer(a)thuenen.de Web: www.thuenen.de/of/ Das Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Bundesforschungsinstitut für Ländliche Räume, Wald und Fischerei – kurz: Thünen-Institut – besteht aus 14 Fachinstituten, die in den Bereichen Ökonomie, Ökologie und Technologie forschen und die Politik beraten. The Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries – Thünen Institute in brief – consists of 14 specialized institutes that carry out research and provide policy advice in the fields of economy, ecology and technology.

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New publication on individual vocal labels in multi-level dolphin alliances
by Stephanie King 08 Jun '18

08 Jun '18

Hi all, My co-authors and I are pleased to announce our new publication in Current Biology: King SL, Friedman W, Allen SJ, Gerber L, Jensen F, Wittwer S, Connor RC, Krützen M (2018) Bottlenose dolphins retain individual vocal labels in multi-level alliances. Current Biology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.013 Summary: Cooperation between allied individuals and groups is ubiquitous in human societies, and vocal communication is known to play a key role in facilitating such complex human behaviours. In fact, complex communication may be a feature of the kind of social cognition required for the formation of social alliances, facilitating both partner choice and the execution of coordinated behaviours. As such, a compelling avenue for investigation is what role flexible communication systems play in the formation and maintenance of cooperative partnerships in other alliance-forming animals. Male bottlenose dolphins in some populations form complex multi-level alliances, where individuals cooperate in the pursuit and defence of an important resource, access to females. These strong relationships can last for decades and are critical to each male’s reproductive success. Convergent vocal accommodation is used to signal social proximity to a partner or social group in many taxa, and it has long been thought that allied male dolphins also converge onto a shared signal to broadcast alliance identity. Here, we combine a decade of data on social interactions with dyadic relatedness estimates to show that male dolphins that form multi-level alliances in an open social network retain individual vocal labels that are distinct from those of their allies. Our results differ from earlier reports of signature whistle convergence among males that form stable alliance pairs. Instead, they suggest that individual vocal labels play a central role in the maintenance of differentiated relationships within complex nested alliances. The paper can be accessed here: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30615-8 All the best, Stephanie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stephanie L. King, PhD Branco Weiss Fellow - Society in Science Centre for Evolutionary Biology School of Biological Sciences University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009 Ph 0864881773 (W) 0447 265840 (M) www.sharkbaydolphins.org [49454AF0-085F-47E1-BF1C-A677692EEBF4.png] Please visit my homepage<http://slking.weebly.com/> to find out more about my research. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” — Jack Kerouac

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Now available online: Whale and dolphin behavioural responses to dead conspecifics
by Giovanni Bearzi 07 Jun '18

07 Jun '18

Dear colleagues, the final version of our article "Whale and dolphin behavioural responses to dead conspecifics" is now available online, containing full bibliographic details. The Share Link below provides 50 days' free access to our article. Anyone clicking on this link before July 27, 2018 will be taken directly to the final version of the article (no sign up, registration or fees are required) *Share Link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1XB203MhxMSrGv <https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1XB203MhxMSrGv>* If the link does not work, you may still contact the first author ( giovanni.bearzi(a)gmail.com) to receive a pdf file. Highlights • Effort-weighted study of 'postmortem attentive behaviour' (PAB) in cetaceans. • Dolphins (Delphinidae) accounted for 92.3% of 78 PAB records, baleen whales 1.3%. • Encephalisation was an important predictor of PAB across taxa. • Female PAB towards dead calves (75%) may have been rescue attempts or grieving. • Male PAB was rare and possibly not caregiving. Abstract The scientific study of death across animal taxa—comparative thanatology—investigates how animals respond behaviourally, physiologically and psychologically to dead conspecifics, and the processes behind such responses. Several species of cetaceans have been long known to care for, attend to, be aroused by, or show interest in dead or dying individuals. We investigated patterns and variation in cetacean responses to dead conspecifics across cetacean taxa based on a comprehensive literature review. We analysed 78 records reported between 1970 and 2016, involving 20 of the 88 extant cetacean species. We adopted a weighted comparative approach to take observation effort into account and found that odontocetes (toothed cetaceans) were much more likely than mysticetes (baleen whales) to attend to dead conspecifics. Dolphins (Delphinidae) had the greatest occurrence of attentive behaviour (92.3% of all records), with a weighed attendance index 18 times greater than the average of all other cetacean families. Two dolphin genera, Sousa and Tursiops, constituted 55.1% of all cetacean records (N = 43) and showed the highest incidence of attentive behaviour. Results of analyses intended to investigate the reasons behind these differences suggested that encephalisation may be an important predictor, consistent with the "social brain" hypothesis. Among attending individuals or groups of known sex (N = 28), the majority (75.0%) were adult females with dead calves or juveniles (possibly their own offspring, with exceptions), consistent with the strong mother-calf bond, or, in a few cases, with the bond between mothers and other females in the group. The remaining records (25.0%) involved males either showing sexual interest in a dead adult or subadult, or carrying a dead calf in the presence of females. Because an inanimate individual is potentially rescuable, responses to dead conspecifics—especially by females—can be explained at least in part by attempts to revive and protect, having a clear adaptive value. In some cases such responses are followed by apparently maladaptive behaviour such as the long-term carrying of, or standing by, a decomposed carcass, similar to observations of certain terrestrial mammals. Among the possible explanations for the observed cetacean behavioural responses to dead conspecifics are strong attachment resulting in a difficulty of "letting go"—possibly related to grieving—or perhaps individuals failing to recognise or accept that an offspring or companion has died. Our current understanding is challenged by small sample size, incomplete descriptions, and lack of information on the physiology and neural processes underpinning the observed behaviour. We provide research recommendations that would improve such understanding. - - - - - - - Giovanni Bearzi President, Dolphin Biology and Conservation <http://www.dolphinbiology.org/>

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Detection of Marine Mammal Sounds: A Passive Acoustic Training Workshop
by Sara Heimlich 07 Jun '18

07 Jun '18

There is still room! Detection of Marine Mammal Sounds: A Passive Acoustic Training Workshop. Join Oregon State University and The University of Rhode Island for a hands-on workshop exploring new and improved detection capabilities of Ishmael, a free sound analysis software system. This free 2.5 day workshop, sponsored by LMR, will feature: * Basics of Sound Analysis * Overview of Detection and Classification * Advanced Detection Techniques * Performance Comparison * Detection in Ishmael using MATLAB * Lab: Detect calls in your own data set WHEN: Tuesday June 19 - Thursday June 21, 2018 (9am to 5pm T,W and 9am to 12 pm Th) WHERE: University of Rhode Island, in the Engineering Computing Center, Kirk Hall, 90 Upper College Road, Kingston, RI. Contact Sharon Nieukirk to register: Sharon.Nieukirk(a)oregonstate.edu -- Sara Heimlich CIMRS/NOAA Hatfield Marine Science Center Newport,OR. 97365 USA (541)867-0328 office (541)961-1737 cell sara.heimlich(a)noaa.gov

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Sealcentre Pieterburen Vet Internships 2018 & 2019
by Ana Rubio García | Zeehondencentrum 07 Jun '18

07 Jun '18

Dear all, We are pleased to announce: VETERINARY DEPARTMENT INTERNSHIP – SEALCENTRE PIETERBUREN The Sealcentre Pieterburen, the Netherlands, has an exciting opportunity for *two Veterinary Interns *to work in our Veterinary and Seal Care Departments. Both positions last one year, one is scheduled to start in October 2018, and the other in April 2019. Previous marine mammal or wildlife experience is a plus. The Sealcentre’s Veterinary Department includes two veterinarians and two veterinary interns. We are looking for a highly motivated and dynamic candidate who will join our team and will work closely in a team setting with staff and volunteers to assist with all aspects of veterinary care and husbandry of sick and injured seals. Other responsibilities include but are not limited to: daily care of animals, transport of live/dead marine animals, maintenance of daily nutritional and medical records, sampling for various research projects, and data entry. Additional duties and projects may be assigned by staff. The interns are required to find their own transportation to Pieterburen and we provide housing (fully equipped), meals, and health insurance. These positions are unpaid. The interns should expect to be scheduled to cover a variety of shifts including weekdays, nights, weekends, and holidays. The ideal candidate should be mature and motivated, and possess a strong work ethic and excellent observational and communication skills (a fluent English level is required). Due to Visa requirements we are currently only able to accept applicants with a European passport. The deadline for applications is July 31st 2018. Interested applicants should submit a copy of the CV, an intention letter, and two recommendation letters. Note that the application materials should be in English. Applications and questions should be submitted to vet(a)zeehondencentrum.nl indicating in the subject VETERINARY INTERN 2018/2019. For more information about the Sealcentre Pieterburen visit www.zeehondencentrum.nl *Ana Rubio García* *Head of the Veterinary & Research Department* Mobile phone: +31 (0)6 12 981154 Email: ana.rubiogarcia(a)zeehondencentrum.nl Zeehondencentrum Pieterburen. Healthy sea, happy seal. Hoofdstraat 94a 9968 AG Pieterburen T +31 (0)595 526 526 E: info(a)zeehondencentrum.nl I: www.zeehondencentrum.nl [image: cid:image004.jpg@01D1D2D4.6A844C90] P Please consider the environment. Think before printing.

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5 PhDs in Aquatic Animal Health including 1 on marine mammals
by Sandro Mazzariol 06 Jun '18

06 Jun '18

Dear all I'd like to announce that Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science of the University of Padova - Italy opens a call for 5 PhD students with a degree in biology or veterinary medicine. One of the possible projects is focused on marine mammal tissue banking, cell cultures and metagenomic. All these PhD courses are organized within a largest project funded by the Italian Ministry for Research focusing on Aquatic Animal's Health including the implementation of drones for sampling, big data and machine learning, augmented reality and biobanking. General information on: http://www.unipd.it/bandi-graduatorie-dottorati. PhD call http://www.unipd.it/sites/unipd.it/files/2018/Sc%20veter_34.pdf _*Deadline June 26th 13:00 Rome Time *_ Sandro Mazzariol -- Dr. Sandro Mazzariol, DVM, PhD Dipartimento di Biomedicina Comparata e Alimentazione (BCA) Università degli Studi di Padova Cetaceans strandings Emergency Response Team (CERT) AGRIPOLIS - Ed. Museo Viale dell'Università 16 35020 - Legnaro (PD) tel.: +39 049 827 2963 fax: +39 049 827 2973 skype: smazzariol

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New publication - Fusariosis in a captive South American sea lion
by Laura Reisfeld 05 Jun '18

05 Jun '18

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of all co-authors, I am pleased to announce the publication of our article about fusariosis in a captive South American sea lion. Laura Reisfeld, Carlos Sacristan, Paloma Canedo, Bruna Schwarz, Ana Carolina Ewbank, Fernando Esperon, Jose Luiz Catao-Dias (2018). Fusariosis in a Captive South American Sea Lion (Otaria flavescens): A Case Report. Mycopathologia, doi: 10.1007/s11046-018-0270-9 In this manuscript we described the clinical signs, associated lesions and diagnosis (thermography, imprint cytology, histopathology, culture, electron microscopy, PCR) of a fusariosis case by Fusarium sp. in the nails and skin of an adult male captive South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens) recently transferred from another zoological institution, and its successful long-term treatment with Ketoconazole PO (60 days) and Miconazole solution spray TO, followed by Itraconazole PO (30 days). Herein we provide a successful approach to the diagnosis and treatment of fusariosis. You can discover more in the links: https://rdcu.be/OhV4 and https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11046-018-0270-9 The article is available at link above or email: lauravet(a)aquariodesaopaulo.com.br<mailto:lauravet@aquariodesaopaulo.com.br> Best regards Laura Reisfeld DVM, MSc, Aquario de Sao Paulo Laboratory of Wildlife Comparative Patholog y - LAPCOM School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences - FMVZ University of São Paulo (Brazil)

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New paper on porpoise detections in noisy environments
by Jonas Teilmann 05 Jun '18

05 Jun '18

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce the publication of the following open access paper in Bioacoustics: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09524622.2018.1477071 https://doi.org/10.1080/09524622.2018.1477071 Karin Tubbert Clausen, Jakob Tougaard, Jacob Carstensen, Matthieu Delefosse & Jonas Teilmann (2018): Noise affects porpoise click detections - the magnitude of the effect depends on logger type and detection filter settings, Bioacoustics, DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2018.1477071 Abstract Automatic click detectors and full-bandwidth sound recorders are widely used in passive acoustic monitoring of small cetaceans. Detection of these signals depends on a variety of factors, including signal to noise ratio. Passive acoustic monitoring is often used to study impact of underwater noise on small cetaceans, but as detection probability is affected by changes in signal to noise ratio, variable noise levels may affect conclusions drawn from these experiments. Therefore, we examine how different detectors and filters perform in varying ocean noise conditions. C-PODs and full-bandwidth recorders (Wildlife Acoustics, SM2M+) were deployed at two stations in an environment with fluctuating ambient noise for 42 days. Noise level and harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) click trains simultaneously recorded on both loggers were compared. Overall, we found that porpoise click detections by the algorithm used to analyse full-band recorder data (Pamguard) paralleled detections by the C-POD. However, Pamguard detected significantly more clicks than the C-POD. A decrease in detections was seen for both loggers with increasing noise in the band 20 -160 kHz, in particular for levels above 100 dB re 1μPa rms. We also found that the Pamguard detection function changed the least over varying noise conditions when compared to the C-POD detectors. This study sheds light on the fact that inference of animal presence/absence or density that are based on echolocation cues (here, Porpoise Positive Minutes) shall account for the acoustic environments where probability of detecting signals may be affected by variability in ambient noise levels. Best regards Jonas Teilmann _______________________________________________ Jonas Teilmann Senior Scientist, Ph.D. Phone: (+45) 21 42 42 91 Fax: (+45) 87 16 87 51 E-mail: jte(a)bios.au.dk<mailto:jte@bios.au.dk> Marine Mammal Research Section Department of Bioscience Aarhus University Frederiksborgvej 399 DK-4000 Roskilde Denmark http://bios.au.dk/en/about-bioscience/organisation/marine-mammal-research/ https://www.facebook.com/Aarhus-University-Section-for-Marine-Mammal-Resear…

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Virological Sampling of Inaccessible Wildlife with Drones
by Vanessa Pirotta (HDR) 04 Jun '18

04 Jun '18

Dear MARMAM colleagues, My co-authors and I are pleased to announce the publication of the following manuscript now available online: Virological Sampling of Inaccessible Wildlife with Drones Geoghegan, J.L.; Pirotta, V.; Harvey, E.; Smith, A.; Buchmann, J.P.; Ostrowski, M.; Eden, J.-S.; Harcourt, R.; Holmes, E.C. Virological Sampling of Inaccessible Wildlife with Drones. Viruses 2018, 10, 300. Abstract: There is growing interest in characterizing the viromes of diverse mammalian species, particularly in the context of disease emergence. However, little is known about virome diversity in aquatic mammals, in part due to difficulties in sampling. We characterized the virome of the exhaled breath (or blow) of the Eastern Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). To achieve an unbiased survey of virome diversity, a meta-transcriptomic analysis was performed on 19 pooled whale blow samples collected via a purpose-built Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, or drone) approximately 3 km off the coast of Sydney, Australia during the 2017 winter annual northward migration from Antarctica to northern Australia. To our knowledge, this is the first time that UAVs have been used to sample viruses. Despite the relatively small number of animals surveyed in this initial study, we identified six novel virus species from five viral families. This work demonstrates the potential of UAVs in studies of virus disease, diversity, and evolution. Keywords: whale; virome; drone; mammalian host; virosphere Publication available here: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/10/6/300 Best regards, Vanessa Pirotta Vanessa Pirotta | PhD Candidate Marine Predator Research Group Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science and Engineering Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia Twitter: @VanessaPirotta

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