Marine Mammal Science (2017)
Lactation plays a vital role in reproductive success, evolving with ecological adaptations of mammalian life histories. Knowledge of the lactation process in odontocetes is scarce and limited to a handful…
Records of anomalously white harbour porpoises and atypical pigmented short-beaked common dolphin in the Georgian Black Sea waters
Kopaliani, Natia; Gurielidze, Zurab; Ninua, Levan
Journal of the Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment (2017)
In Georgian territorial waters of the Black Sea, three leucistic harbour porpoises and one piebald short beaked common dolphin were spotted during the years 2012-2016. All images of the specimens…
The evolution of genital shape variation in female cetaceans
Orbach, Dara N.; Hedrick, Brandon; Würsig, Bernd; Mesnick, Sarah L.; Brennan, Patricia L. R.
Evolution (2017)
Male genital diversification is likely the result of sexual selection. Female genital diversification may also result from sexual selection, although it is less well studied and understood. Female genitalia are…
Persistent organic pollutant and hormone levels in harbor porpoise with B cell lymphoma
Norman, Stephanie A.; Winfield, Zach C.; Rickman, Barry H.; Usenko, Sascha; Klope, Matthew; Berta, Susan; Dubpernell, Sandra; Garrett, Howard; Adams, Mary Jo; Lambourn, Dyanna; Huggins, Jessica L.; Lysiak, Nadine; Clark, Adelaide E.; Sanders, Rebel; Trumble, Stephen J.
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (2017)
B-cell lymphoma, a common morphologic variant of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, has been associated with persistent pollutants in humans, but this association is not well-characterized in top-level predators sharing marine resources with…
Metazoan parasites from odontocetes off New Zealand: New records
Lehnert, Kristina; Randhawa, Haseeb; Poulin, Robert
Parasitology Research (2017)
Information about the parasite fauna of spectacled porpoises and cetaceans from New Zealand waters in general is scarce. This study takes advantage of material archived in collections of the Otago…
Harbour porpoise distribution can vary at small spatiotemporal scales in energetic habitats
Benjamins, Steven; van Geel, Nienke; Hastie, Gordon; Elliott, Jim; Wilson, Ben
Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (2017)
Marine habitat heterogeneity underpins species distribution and can be generated through interactions between physical and biological drivers at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is used worldwide to study…
Marine noise budgets in practice
Merchant, Nathan D.; Faulkner, Rebecca C.; Martinez, Roi
Conservation Letters (2017)
Many countries have made statutory commitments to ensure that underwater noise pollution is at levels which do not harm marine ecosystems. Nevertheless, coordinated action to manage cumulative noise levels is…
Using environmental DNA to assess population-wide spatiotemporal reserve use
Stewart, Kathryn; Ma, Hongjuan; Zheng, Jinsong; Zhao, Jianfu
Conservation Biology (2017)
Scientists increasingly rely on protected areas to assist in biodiversity conservation, yet the efficacy of these areas are rarely systematically assessed, often as a byproduct of underfunding, particularly in developing…
Responses of bottlenose dolphins and harbor porpoises to impact and vibration piling noise during harbor construction
Graham, Isla M.; Pirotta, Enrico; Merchant, Nathan D.; Farcas, Adrian; Barton, Tim R.; Cheney, Barbara; Hastie, Gordon D.; Thompson, Paul M.
Ecosphere (2017)
The development of risk assessments for the exposure of protected populations to noise from coastal construction is constrained by uncertainty over the nature and extent of marine mammal responses to…
Year-round spatiotemporal distribution of harbour porpoises within and around the Maryland wind energy area
Wingfield, Jessica E.; O’Brien, Michael; Lyubchich, Vyacheslav; Roberts, Jason J.; Halpin, Patrick N.; Rice, Aaron N.; Bailey, Helen
PLOS ONE (2017)
Offshore windfarms provide renewable energy, but activities during the construction phase can affect marine mammals. To understand how the construction of an offshore windfarm in the Maryland Wind Energy Area…