Author: hannc

Successfully a Master, or at Least a Bit More Enlightened

By Courtney Hann (M.S. Marine Resource Management)

A week ago, I successfully defended my Masters of Science thesis on “Citizen Science Research: A Focus on Historical Whaling Data and a Current Citizen Science Project, Whale mAPP”, which included a 60 minute presentation to my committee, colleagues, friends, and family. Although a bit nervous at the start, my two weeks of revisions and practice prepared me to enjoy the experience once it started, and be thankful for all of the guidance and knowledge I have gained while at Oregon State University and with the Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab.

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My thesis focused on the value of collaboration and creativity in developing new methods for gathering and analyzing marine mammal data; and was driven by the overall question of

How do we study marine mammals over vast spatial and temporal scales without breaking the bank, while still being scientifically rigorous?

This is important because marine mammal data collected over large spatial and temporal scales is relatively rare, and requires extensive collaboration and funding (Calambokidis et al. 2008; Dahlheim et al. 2009). A majority of marine mammal research is conducted over limited time frames (weeks to months) and on local spatial scales, requiring the data to be extrapolated out in order to understand regional patterns (Baker et al. 1985; Rosa et al. 2012). As a result, ecological modeling and other analyses are limited by geographic and temporal scale (Hamazaki 2002; Redfern et al. 2006).

I presented two potential approaches to the use of citizen science data to cost-effectively study marine mammal distributions across vast spatial and temporal scales. The first method is described below:

(1) Use the oldest form of large cetacean citizen science data, historical whaling records, to analyze species trends across extensive spatial and temporal scales. Amazingly, these 200-year-old records provide some of the most informative data for highlighting regional and global marine mammal distributions and abundance estimates (Gregr and Trites 2001; Torres et al. 2013). This information is vital for adapting management strategies as populations recover, change their distribution due to climate changes, or undergo various interactions with humans (net entanglements, ship strikes, competition for commercially important fish and invertebrate species, etc.).

Replicating such datasets today is not fiscally feasible with traditional research methods, but distribution data is still vital for understanding how populations have changed over time and how they are responding to large-scale climate and anthropogenic changes. Modern day citizen science research may be the solution to collecting such baseline data. Therefore, the following second method was evaluated:

(2) Data collected by 39 volunteers using the marine mammal citizen science app, Whale mAPP (www.whalemapp.org), over the summer of 2014 was examined to interpret various spatial, users, and species biases present in the dataset. In addition, the educational benefits, user motivations, and suggestions for revisions to the citizen science project were investigated with two user surveys. Results were used to revise Whale mAPP and highlight both the potential and limitations of citizen science data collected with Whale mAPP.

While I believe in the power of citizen science research for expanding our knowledge of large-scale marine mammal distributions, it is important to continue to interpret the biases in the dataset and truly examine how we can use the results for research. For, although collecting an abundance of data may be fun and exciting, careful examination of the methods and analyses techniques are vital if we hope to one day use the data to inform management and conservation decisions. I hope that my research contributes not only to this knowledge, but also to opening our eyes to the value of embracing a new method of data collection. Such a method relies on collaboration across various disciplines including biologists, managers, educators, app developers, volunteers, and statisticians. Maybe someday a current citizen science project, such as Whale mAPP, will provide a dataset as vast, abundant, and valuable as historical whaling records. Even the possibility of accomplishing such a goal is worth fighting for.

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Literature Cited

Baker, C. S., L.M. Herman, A. Perry, et al. 1985. Population characteristics and migration of summer and late-season humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in Southeastern Alaska. Marine Mammal Science 1:304–323.

Calambokidis, J., E.A. Falcone, T.J. Quinn, et al. 2008. SPLASH: Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Hump- back Whales in the North Pacific. Final Report for Contract AB133F-03-RP- 00078 prepared by Cascadia Research for U.S. Department of Commerce.

Dahlheim, M. E., P.A. White and J.M. Waite. 2009. Cetaceans of Southeast Alaska: distribution and seasonal occurrence. J. Biogeogr 36:410–426

Gregr, E.J., A.W. Trites. 2001. Predictions of critical habitat for five whale species in the waters of coastal British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 58:1265–1285

Hamazaki, T. 2002. Spatiotemporal prediction models of cetacean habitats in the mid-western North Atlantic Ocean (from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA to Nova Scotia, Canada). Marine Mammal Science 18:920–939.

Redfern, J.V., M.C. Ferguson, E.A. Becker, et al. 2006. Techniques for cetacean-habitat modeling. Marine Ecology Progress Series 310: 271–295.

Rosa, L. D., J.K. Ford and A.W. Trites. 2012. Distribution and relative abundance of humpback whales in relation to environmental variables in coastal British Columbia and adjacent waters. Cont. Shelf Res. 36:89–104.

Torres, L. G., T. D. Smith, P. Sutton, A. MacDiarmid, J. Bannister, and T. Miyashita. 2013. From exploitation to conservation: habitat models using whaling data predict distribution patterns and threat exposure of an endangered whale. Diversity and Distributions 19:1138-1152.

Whale mAPP Goes Global!

By Courtney Hann

The Whale mAPP team of Lei Lani Stelle, Melo King of Smallmelo Geographic Information Services, and me (Courtney Hann) has been busy recruiting ocean enthusiasts and applying for grants to fund volunteer-suggested Whale mAPP revisions. As a refresher, Whale mAPP is an Android-based mobile application that can be used by anyone to record marine mammal (whale, dolphins, porpoises, pinniped) sightings around the world. It is easy to sign up as a beta tester on the Whale mAPP website, www.whalemapp.org, and use the mobile app on your personal device to help scientists and conservationists learn more about marine mammals.

What is most spectacular is that the app has truly gone global! We now have over 100 users and are getting a couple new user requests each week! These volunteers have been busy at work this summer, recording thousands of marine mammal sightings during the summer months. Sightings have streamed in from the U.S. West Coast, Hawaiian, Japanese, and Russian waters, the Caribbean, the middle of the Southern Ocean, and the Greenland Sea. You can click on any sighting on the web map to see details about what species were recorded, how many were seen, what their behavior was like, the weather conditions that day, and other notes.

This map shows global marine mammal sightings recorded by Whale mAPP volunteers. The blue whale tale icons represent whale sightings, the pink dolphin icons represent dolphin or porpoise sightings, and the orange seal icon represents a seal, sea lion, or sea otter sighting. Data recorded during each sighting include the location (automatic), the species, the weather and sea conditions, the number of individuals, and a five-star confidence rating (http://www.whalemapp.org/map/#/, CEBCO, DeLorme | Melodi King, MS GIS Program – Cohort 21, University of Redlands).
This map shows global marine mammal sightings recorded by Whale mAPP volunteers. The blue whale tale icons represent whale sightings, the pink dolphin icons represent dolphin or porpoise sightings, and the orange seal icon represents a seal, sea lion, or sea otter sighting. Data recorded during each sighting include the location (automatic), the species, the weather and sea conditions, the number of individuals, and a five-star confidence rating (http://www.whalemapp.org/map/#/, CEBCO, DeLorme | Melodi King, MS GIS Program – Cohort 21, University of Redlands).

If we zoom into my particular study area of Southeast Alaska, we see that volunteers are still doing a superb job at recording the abundant number of marine mammals in the area.

Zoomed in image of the northeast Pacific, showing marine mammal sightings recorded this summer in Alaska, Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington (http://www.whalemapp.org/map/#/, CEBCO, DeLorme | Melodi King, MS GIS Program – Cohort 21, University of Redlands).
Zoomed in image of the northeast Pacific, showing marine mammal sightings recorded this summer in Alaska, Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington (http://www.whalemapp.org/map/#/, CEBCO, DeLorme | Melodi King, MS GIS Program – Cohort 21, University of Redlands).

Initial funding through the California Coastal Commission Whale Tail grant facilitated the creation of the Whale mAPP project, while current funding from the Hatfield Marine Science Center’s Mamie Markham Research Award that I received this Spring 2015 is funding the top two revisions requested by our users:
(1) Enable the user to edit observations during a trip and after a trip has ended. This revision is huge, was requested by almost every user I spoke to in Southeast Alaska, and was shown very evidently in our survey results.
(2) Add site-specific animal behavior and descriptions to Whale mAPP. For Southeast Alaska, this means adding the famous bubble-net feeding behavior to our list, as well as important descriptions of how to identify, recognize, and understand marine mammal behaviors.
In addition to the above two revisions, a few other revisions will be completed by Smallmelo Geographic Information Services this winter. These revisions include improving world-wide coverage of region-specific species lists, creating tools for validating the quality of the data, enabling data downloads directly from the website (www.whalemapp.org), and including the beta-tested “marine mammal fun facts” into the global application.

All of these incredible accomplishments and progress toward a successful, educational, fun, and data-generating marine mammal citizen science project could not have happened without Dr. Lei Lani’s open mind toward incorporating more people, including me, into her Whale mAPP project. Whale mAPP represents a new age of scientists, one of collaboration across disciplines (ecology, statistics, coding, education, and more!), and one that over-steps previous boundaries to re-define science. I hope that my participation with Whale mAPP and future citizen science projects will inspire individuals to know and feel that they can be scientists and that we can inspire the world to work together for the common good of our oceans.

Sharing the Coast Conference

GEMM lab recently attended the Sharing the Coast Conference 2015 at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon where graduate student Courtney Hann presented on a marine mammal citizen science project, called Whale mAPP.

The Sharing the Coast Conference was a wonderful opportunity for scientists, researchers, community members, and avid ocean enthusiasts alike to come together and discuss current research on the Oregon Coast, with a focus on citizen science research. Many of the presenters introduced Oregon Coast or online citizen science projects people could participate. Other hands-on activities included field trips to Moolack Beach, Devil’s Punchbowl, along with tutorials on how to monitor marine debris and sea star wasting.

Courtney Hann represented the GEMM lab with her Sunday presentation on Whale mAPP, an Android application that can be used by volunteers, whom we call citizen scientists, to record marine mammal sighting data. The audience was inquisitive and intrigued by this project, along with many of the other wonderful citizen science projects. The American Cetacean Society, Oregon Chapter, will be using the Whale mAPP website (www.whalemapp.org) this whale watching season to record shore-based marine mammal, focusing on grey whale, sightings.

Overall, the Sharing the Coast Conference was an ideal event that brought people from all around Oregon and from multiple organizations (Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators, American Cetacean Society, CoastWatch, Hatfield Marine Science Center, GEMM lab, etc.) together to talk about relevant Oregon Coast topics. The focus on engaging volunteers with scientific research represents an exciting turn towards embracing citizen science research, and incorporating free-choice learning opportunities into citizen science projects.