Dear colleagues, There are still a few places left for our workshop on “Advances in Dietary Studies” for marine Mammals at the European Cetacean Societies conference in Dundee, Scotland. The workshop is scheduled full day for April 20th 2026. You can find more information on the workshop (and other workshops) here: https://www.europeancetaceansociety.eu/conference-workshops-37 You register for the workshop using the ECS website. The workshop aims to bring together researchers working on the feeding ecology of marine mammals to exchange ideas, methods, and results related to dietary studies. Abstract Dietary ecology research in marine mammals provides important opportunities to improve our understanding of trophic relationships, habitat use, and ecosystem status in a rapidly changing world. Dietary shifts directly indicate changes in large-scale ecosystem changes. This workshop aims to explore updated approaches for advancing the study of feeding ecology across all marine mammal species, by summarizing recent developments. We will discuss how classical methods such as stomach content analysis and scat examination may be complemented by biochemical and molecular tools including stable isotope analysis, fatty acid composition, and DNA metabarcoding. In addition, other technologies such as tagging, photogrammetry using drones and passive acoustic monitoring may offer new possibilities for assessing foraging behaviour and prey encounter rates. A central aim of the workshop is to consider strategies for integrating multiple data types in order to better detect spatial and temporal dietary patterns and to investigate how climate-driven changes, fisheries interactions and habitat modification may influence prey resources and the effects on marine mammals. By bringing together researchers covering different disciplines and species, the workshop seeks to identify knowledge gaps, addresses methodological challenges and outline future directions for robust and comparable dietary studies in marine mammals. We would like to share the preliminary program for the workshop: * Introduction and Aims of the workshop * Short introduction to specific dietary analysis as a baseline for discussions * Case studies presented by workshop participants (the more the merrier) * Discussion in break out groups (Advantages/Disadvantages of current methods with the discussion aiming at finding solutions and future directions) * Future developments We would like to invite additional short contributions from workshop participants, presenting recent results. Of particular interest would be presentations that focus on methodological approaches, challenges, or experiences with dietary analysis techniques (for example traditional methods, biochemical tools, molecular approaches, or emerging technologies). If you are interested in presenting, please feel free to contact us with a potential title. We hope this workshop will provide a platform for exchanging experiences across different dietary research approaches and for discussing future directions in marine mammal feeding ecology. We would be very happy if you would like to contribute a short presentation. Best wishes, Micha & Lisa Lisa Klemens Deutsches Meeresmuseum Michael Dähne University of Rostock Mit freundlichen Grüßen aus dem Deutschen Meeresmuseum i. A. Lisa Klemens Doktorandin & Projekt Wissenschaftlerin Deutsches Meeresmuseum Museum für Meereskunde und Fischerei ∙ Aquarium Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts Tel.: +49 3831 2650-380 lisa.klemens@meeresmuseum.de<mailto:lisa.klemens@meeresmuseum.de> www.deutsches-meeresmuseum.de<http://www.deutsches-meeresmuseum.de/> Direktorium Prof. Dr. Burkard Baschek Andreas Tanschus Ust. ID Nr.: DE 162 772 269 Steuernr.: 082/126/00068 Hinweis zum Datenschutz: www.deutsches-meeresmuseum.de/datenschutz<http://www.deutsches-meeresmuseum.de/datenschutz> Postanschrift: Katharinenberg 14 - 20 18439 Stralsund [cid:1637b1d9-1ed2-4913-bd7d-5782e4a565c7]
