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This science lecture series is a great way to learn about current scientific research from a variety of experts in their field.
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The reception includes light hors d'oeuvres, drinks, socializing, and a chance to talk to our speaker.
Discovering the underwater lives of Risso's dolphins in California waters
Dr. Ari Friedlaender, UC Santa Cruz
Risso's dolphins are one of the most commonly sighted odontocete cetaceans in Monterey Bay and around the Channel Islands with sightings and even necropsies being promoted for more than 100 years. While they have been consistently observed in Monterey Bay for more than a century, their appearance around the Channel Islands and Southern California coincided with an apparent regime shift after a large El Nino event roughly 30 years ago. Over the past 15 years, dedicated research has focused on using a combination of biologging tags and active acoustics to better understand the foraging behavior of these deep-diving dolphins with an emphasis on understanding how their behavior relates to that of their main prey, mesopelagic squid. Most recently in Monterey Bay, we have deployed a series of video-recording tags that offer unique insights into the foraging strategies and even prey types that these dolphins target including never before seen footage of foraging on squid and jellyfish. Additionally, depth-recording satellite tags have revealed long-term dive patterns that help us understand how the movement and dive behavior of Risso's dolphins links with long-term data on the local distribution and abundance of different squid species. Lastly, satellite-tag derived movement patterns reveal new information on the core habitat use areas in the Monterey Bay region but also indicate significantly more substantial movement of individuals into Oregon coastal waters to the north and the Santa Barbara Channel to the south, indicating a much more complex population structure in California waters than previously recognized.
Ari S. Friedlaender, PhD is a Professor in the Ocean Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz and a Faculty Fellow at the UCSC Institute for Arts and Sciences. Ari received his PhD from Duke University in Ecology and is a leader in the development and implementation of biologging technology to understand the underwater behavior of marine mammals. Ari has led a long-term ecological research program in Antarctica for nearly 30 years to understand how climate-driven changes affect the foraging behavior and health of baleen whales. Closer to home, Ari has worked for the past 15 years to study the impacts of human activity on the health and behavior of baleen whales and dolphins in California waters. This work has focused on the impacts of navy sonar, changes in human presence during COVID, and toxins and contaminants that accumulate in marine mammals from industrial activities along the California coast. Ari also works directly with a number of conservation organizations to create marine protected areas and legislation to better protect marine mammals and their habitats. Ari and his research are featured in more than 20 documentary films and television shows including National Geographic, BBC, Netflix, NOVA, and the Discovery Channel. He has published nearly 200 scientific manuscripts and is leadership in several international conservation organizations. Most recently, Ari has focused effort to develop new and better ways to communicate scientific information to non-science communities through a recent exhibition entitled Weather and the Whale and via a website for Protecting Blue Corridors in partnerships with WWF which recently received a Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for best data visualization.