Cade was recently a postdoctoral researcher in Ari Friedlaender's Bio-Telemetry and Behavioral Ecology Lab at University of California, Santa Cruz, and is now a postdoctoral researcher in Jeremy Goldbogen's lab at Hopkins Marine Station. ![]() Now MBARI's acoustic data have contributed to two new research studies about blue whales led by graduate students at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California.Ī study by David Cade, published in Animal Behaviour in December, examined feeding aggregations of blue whales in Monterey Bay. This context has set the stage for a series of studies which leverage the incredible long-term view on behavior that this acoustic record provides," said Oestreich. "Our past research efforts with collaborators from around Monterey Bay opened the door to understanding the behavioral context of patterns in the acoustic data collected on blue whales with MBARI's hydrophone. Previous research by Ryan and collaborators at Stanford University-including incoming MBARI Postdoctoral Fellow William Oestreich-coupled the hydrophone's extensive archive of acoustic data with field studies to better understand blue whale behavior. We aim to tap that wealth to better understand and protect ocean life," said John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at MBARI. "Because whales and other marine mammals use sound in the essential life activities of communicating, foraging, navigating, socializing, and reproducing, there is a wealth of expressed consciousness in the ocean soundscape. The microphone records the calls of whales- acoustic data that offer insight into the animals' behavior. We have learned how blue whales cooperate to forage and how they tune into the productivity of their ecosystem to decide when to embark on their annual long-distance migration for breeding.Īn underwater microphone (hydrophone) on MBARI's cabled observatory has been a valuable tool for studying whales that gather seasonally in the fertile waters of Monterey Bay. Using sound recordings from the heart of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, MBARI researchers and their collaborators have discovered new dimensions of blue whales' lives. But even when we cannot observe blue whales by sight, we can hear their powerful vocalizations that travel hundreds of kilometers.
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