Biosciences Seminar Speaker 19 November 2015

Biosciences Seminar Series - Autumn 2015
19 November 2015 - 1pm - Zoology Museum (Wallace 129)

Long time no see: Acoustic monitoring of whales, dolphins and porpoises

Dr Hanna Nuuttila

(University of Swansea, UK)

Who hasn't dreamed, at least as a kid, to study dolphin and whales, swimming along them in the seas? Reality is, these animals are in general really hard to see and observe out there in the seas. Much progress has been made in the last decades on using photo-identification methods (see here for a nice review) as well as by using acoustic methods (see here). Our speaker of this week, Dr Hanna Nuuttila from the SEACAMS group at our Biosciences Department at Swansea University, is a marine biologist with long expertise in using acoustic methods, which she has used to answer questions of basic and applied interest.

Abstract

from: www.michw.com

Cetaceans can be difficult to study, as they spend only a fraction of their lives above the sea surface - making visual studies methods less than perfect method to fully understand their ecology  and behaviour. Various acoustic techniques exist to study these elusive, wide ranging animals. My studies have focused on one method in particular using passive, static acoustic methods (SAM) to record animal vocalisations. 

This talk will be discuss aspects of cetacean bioacoustics, present some of my past and present work on using cetacean sounds to locate, track and assess behaviour, habitat use and abundance as well as provide an overview of challenges and obstacles presented by acoustic methods and SAM in particular.

Hope to see many of you - everyone most welcome to attend!