A few weeks ago I went to a small luncheon in Corvallis; it was there that I received, as a gift, a new hat.\u00a0 It’s a blue baseball cap with the words “Oregon Sea Grant” across the front.\u00a0 As you know, baseball caps are particularly well suited to a number of uses: (1) Baseball playing, (2)\u00a0 Keeping the sun out of one’s eyes , and (3) Keeping the rain off of one’s face.\u00a0 Tomorrow when I head out on the ocean my brand new Oregon Sea Grant baseball cap is going to take a beating… and I won’t be playing baseball.<\/p>\n
My name is Michelle Fournet.\u00a0 I’m a PhD student in Oregon State University’s department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and a proud recipient of a 2013 Robert E. Malouf Fellowship.\u00a0 My lab, the Oregon State Research Collective for Applied Acoustics, or ORCAA for short, uses sound (acoustics) to study marine organisms.\u00a0 My research in particular is centered around the cetacean species that inhabit Oregon’s near coastal oceans.\u00a0 The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins, and porpoise- and we have many of them here in Oregon.\u00a0 How many exactly? We’re not yet sure.<\/p>\n
Part of my PhD research is aimed at identifying what<\/em> cetacean species regularly use Oregon’ near coastal ocean, and when<\/em> they seem to be here.\u00a0 To answer this question I’m taking a two prong approach that, at first glance, sounds a lot simpler than it really is:\u00a0 I’m going to look for them and I’m going to listen for them.<\/p>\n I’m conducting visual surveys along Oregon’s continental shelf with a team of observers, binoculars, float coats, and cameras.\u00a0 We’re hopping on board with other labs as they take cruises to collect biological and oceanographic data out of Newport Oregon.\u00a0 We perch ourselves on the bow of OSU’s R\/V Elakha and spot whales, dolphins, and porpoise whenever the vessel is underway- rain or shine, wind and waves, if the boat goes out we try and get on it!\u00a0 We’re using a line transect sampling protocol and hope to be incorporating photo identification into the project.\u00a0 Both of these methods allow us to ultimately identify what species are present and to calculate species abundance.\u00a0 If we are able to sample throughout the year we can also address questions about seasonal and diel variability, ask questions about larger scale processes, and paint a more comprehensive picture of our whale, dolphin, and porpoise communities.<\/p>\n This is only part of the method, however.\u00a0 While looking from the bow of the boat can be a very effective method for documenting mammals, porpoises and dolphins can be difficult to spot under even the best conditions.\u00a0 To compliment our visual surveys we have plans to launch multiple hydro-acoustic platforms that will record oceans sounds for analysis.\u00a0 Cetaceans are highly vocal.\u00a0 Baleen whale species produce some of the loudest calls on the planet, that may be capable of traveling across ocean basins.\u00a0 Odontocete species utilize echolocation for navigation and foraging, and produce whistles under various social situations. However, high frequency odontocete calls may only be detected in the range of meters, and low-frequency baleen whale calls may be masked by anthropogenic or ocean noise.\u00a0 What we have in the wings, is a few technologies that will help us work around these problems to get clear recordings of cetacean vocalizations.<\/p>\n Our hope is that the combination of the two methods will yield sufficient data to form a comprehensive understanding of who is really out there.\u00a0 Why do we want to know?\u00a0 Well… I’d love to tell you all about it (and I’m sure I will in my next post!).\u00a0 But for now, I have a rainy\u00a0 boat ride to prepare for, and I need to find my hat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few weeks ago I went to a small luncheon in Corvallis; it was there that I received, as a gift, a new hat.\u00a0 It’s a blue baseball cap with the words “Oregon Sea Grant” across the front.\u00a0 As you … Continue reading