Marine animal studies overview

World Wide Eyes: Social Media-Assisted Wildlife Research. Assessing Supplementary Feeding Areas for Eastern Australian Humpback Whales as a Case Study.

This study uses social media data to identify supplementary feeding areas for Eastern Australian humpback whales, finding three recurrent candidate areas and supporting the idea of recurrent supplementary feeding.

Sound Advice: A calibration framework for defining detection space in Passive Acoustic Monitoring

This study quantifies how environmental factors and frequency affect signal detection in Passive Acoustic Monitoring using playback experiments in a tropical agroecosystem.

A Sparse Modal Representation for Dolphin Echolocation Transients

This paper introduces a method to characterize dolphin echolocation clicks using a sparse modal representation, showing accurate reconstruction and robustness under various environmental conditions.

Automated detection, morphometric measurement, and size-class determination of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) from UAV orthomosaics: a cascaded deep-learning pipeline with stratified validation across platforms, sensors, altitudes, and substrates

This paper develops a deep-learning pipeline for automated harbor seal detection and size-classification from drone imagery, showing high accuracy but variability in thermal vs. RGB performance.

From Recovery to Risk: Intensifying ENSO Events Drive Extirpation Risk in a Marine Predator

This study assesses how intensifying ENSO events increase extirpation risk for Peruvian sea lions using Bayesian population modeling and climate scenarios.

Methodological inconsistencies hinder comparative studies of alliance in the genus Tursiops

This study identifies methodological inconsistencies in alliance criteria across Tursiops research, showing they may introduce pseudo-variation in alliance formation findings.

Bottlenose whales are more socially connected when in poor body condition

The paper examines the relationship between body condition and social behavior in bottlenose whales, finding that individuals in poor condition are more socially connected than expected.

Demographic change in an iconic dolphin population driven by habitat degradation following a marine heatwave

This study examines how a marine heatwave caused habitat degradation, leading to demographic changes in an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin population.

Weaning body condition, preweaning survival, and post-weaning residence under contrasting breeding densities in Baltic grey seals

The study examines how varying breeding densities in Baltic grey seals affect pup survival, body condition, and post-weaning behavior over two years.

Integrating dedicated and opportunistic surveys to estimate seasonal common dolphin density off mainland Portugal

This paper develops a spatiotemporal model to integrate dedicated and opportunistic surveys for estimating seasonal common dolphin density off Portugal, providing animal-level density estimates with uncertainty.

Body condition as an indicator of long-term ecosystem change: evidence from common dolphins

The paper develops body condition indices for common dolphins to monitor long-term ecosystem changes, finding male body condition declined after 2010 linked to climate and prey changes.

Impacts of vessel noise on red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) spawning choruses in Saint Andrew Bay, Florida, U.S.A.

The paper examines how vessel noise affects red drum spawning choruses in Saint Andrew Bay, finding reduced chorus sound levels in response to vessel noise exposure.

Is FFT window length a neutral preprocessing choice in CNN-based dolphin whistle detection? A cross-domain sensitivity analysis.

This study evaluates the impact of FFT window length on CNN-based dolphin whistle detection across domains, finding that N_fft=256 outperforms others in cross-domain performance.

Abundance and distribution of ice-associated seals in the western Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk, 2012-2013

The paper reanalyzes aerial survey data to produce spatially explicit estimates of ice-associated seal abundance in the western Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk, accounting for detection and classification errors.

Abundance and trends of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) in Alaska, 1996-2023

The paper tracks harbor seal populations in Alaska from 1996 to 2023, finding varied trends with some stocks increasing and others declining, linked to climate anomalies and glacier retreat.

Estimating age and annual tooth growth rates in narwhals (Monodon monoceros) using computed tomography

This study uses CT scans to estimate narwhal age and annual tooth growth rates, finding peak growth before age 10 and differences between erupted and embedded teeth.

Southern (California) Sea Otter Population Status and Trends at San Nicolas Island, 2023-Winter 2026

This paper reports a 8.1% annual decline in southern sea otter population at San Nicolas Island from 2023 to 2026, with shifts in habitat use and foraging patterns observed.

Acoustic remote sensing with deep learning enables non-invasive estimation of seabird nest density

This paper uses deep learning to estimate seabird nest density from acoustic recordings, finding that vocal activity peaks strongly predict nest density.

Effect of apnea and food reward on the autonomic modulation of heart rate in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and belugas (Delphinapterus leucas)

The paper measures heart rate and variability in cetaceans during apnea, respiration, and food reward, finding species-specific autonomic responses and validating a non-invasive ECG method.

Pollution and Anthropogenic Stressors Are Associate with Cetacean Vulnerability in Coastal Waters: Fine-Scale Diagnostics from eDNA and Multispecies Modeling

This study uses eDNA and multispecies modeling to show how pollution and human activity affect cetacean distributions in Hong Kong waters, revealing species-specific vulnerabilities.

A simulation-based framework to detect marine animal-vessel interactions using tracking data

The paper develops a simulation-based framework to distinguish between animal-vessel interactions and incidental co-occurrence using tracking data from seabirds and vessels.

Sperm whale foraging combines persistent search with flexible prey-capture tactics

This paper analyzes sperm whale foraging behavior using acoustic and movement data to show two distinct prey-capture tactics within persistent search patterns.

Semi-automated identification of southern right whales from drone imagery by classical image matching methods

The paper evaluates classical image matching methods for identifying southern right whales from drone imagery, achieving high accuracy with combined rule-based approaches.

The origin and evolution of amphibious hearing in pinnipeds

This study investigates the evolution of amphibious hearing in pinnipeds using 3D shape and phylogenetic analyses, finding that cavernous tissue enables acoustic impedance matching between air and water.

Cetacean Mammals of the Black and Azov Seas as Indicators of Habitat Quality via Stacked Species Distribution Models

The paper uses stacked species distribution models to assess habitat quality for three cetacean species in the Black and Azov Seas, finding that PRR correction improves model performance and identifies key environmental drivers.

Scale-independent glide energetics in odontocete cetaceans

The paper derives scale-independent glide energetics for odontocete cetaceans using simulations, showing energy savings depend on drag ratios and efficiency, not body size.

Detection, communication, and individual identification with deep audio embeddings: A case study with North Atlantic right whales

This study uses deep learning to estimate communication space and individual identification in North Atlantic right whales, showing how ambient noise affects signal detection and identification.

Acoustic Characteristics of Low-Frequency Vocalizations of Bryde's Whales (Balaenoptera edeni edeni) in the Weizhou Island Waters of the Beibu Gulf, China

The paper analyzes low-frequency vocalizations of Bryde's whales in Chinese coastal waters, finding correlations between call parameters and potential acoustic masking by vessel noise.

Alliance formation and complexity of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) around Mikura Island, Japan

This study examines alliance formation in male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins around Mikura Island using behavioral data, finding that complex models better capture affiliative and consortship behaviors, suggesting a multi-level social structure.

Prey diversity revealed by environmental DNA elucidates ecological specialisation and social structure in bottlenose dolphins

This study uses environmental DNA to map prey diversity in bottlenose dolphins, showing how prey specialization influences social structure and ecological niche differentiation.