Feasts of junk food or morsels of fine dining: is prey quality or quantity more important to marine predators?

By Lisa Hildebrand, MSc student, OSU Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab Knowing what and how much prey a predator feeds on are key components to better understanding and conserving that predator. Prey abundance and availability are frequently predictors for marine predator reproductive success and population dynamics. It is … Continue reading Feasts of junk food or morsels of fine dining: is prey quality or quantity more important to marine predators?

GEMM Lab 2023: A Year in the Life

Edited by Rachel Kaplan* & Lisa Hildebrand** * PhD student, OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences (FWCS), Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna (GEMM) Lab ** PhD candidate, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences (FWCS), Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna (GEMM) Lab Another year has come and … Continue reading GEMM Lab 2023: A Year in the Life

Intermittent upwelling impacts zooplankton and their gray whale predators

Allison Dawn, MSc, GEMM Lab graduate, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab  The second year of my master’s flew by. Gone were the days of feeling new to graduate school. While I was feeling more comfortable navigating courses, balancing time at both Corvallis and HMSC campuses, and … Continue reading Intermittent upwelling impacts zooplankton and their gray whale predators

That’s so Real: Adult Beginners, Serial Podcast(s), and a whole lotta of Baja Gray Whale Video Analysis.

Celest Sorrentino, Research Technician, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab Hello again GEMM Lab family. I write to you exactly a year after (okay maybe 361 days after but who’s counting…) from my previous blog post describing my 2022 summer working in the GEMM Lab as an NSF REU intern. Since then, so much has … Continue reading That’s so Real: Adult Beginners, Serial Podcast(s), and a whole lotta of Baja Gray Whale Video Analysis.

Embracing Failures for Personal and Professional Growth 

By Autumn Lee, Mount Holyoke College rising senior, GEMM Lab REU Intern 2023 Hello! My name is Autumn Lee, and I am a GEMM lab REU student this summer being mentored by Allison Dawn and Dr. Leigh Torres! I am a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College studying Neuroscience and Behavior, focusing on coastal and … Continue reading Embracing Failures for Personal and Professional Growth 

Accurate and Precise: Learning how to track a focal species

By Jonah Lewis, rising junior at Pacific High School, GEMM Lab Intern 2023 Hello, I’m Jonah Lewis, the other high school intern for the TOPAZ/JASPER Project. I am a rising junior for Pacific High School in Port Orford. I am interested in many things, including computer sciences, electrical sciences, different types of engineering, and lately, … Continue reading Accurate and Precise: Learning how to track a focal species

Diving into new experiences

By Natalee Webster, Oregon State University rising senior, GEMM Lab Intern 2023 When I was younger, I was terrified of the water, sobbing on a rock across the river, afraid to be immersed in the unknown. Flash-forward to the present and I have one more year left to finish my undergraduate degree in Biology at … Continue reading Diving into new experiences

Immersive Marine Science: Diving for Data and a New Perspective on Gray Whale Habitat

Allison Dawn, GEMM Lab Master’s student, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab  If you have followed the GEMM Lab blog for a while, you have read about the multitude of techniques we use to conduct research. A combination of platforms and technologies help us observe whales: rigid … Continue reading Immersive Marine Science: Diving for Data and a New Perspective on Gray Whale Habitat

GEMM Lab 2022: A Year in the Life

By Lisa Hildebrand, PhD student, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab Another year has come and gone, and with the final days of 2022 upon us, it is my honor and pleasure to present to you, dear reader, this summary of achievements by the GEMM Lab this year. It has … Continue reading GEMM Lab 2022: A Year in the Life

Decisions, decisions: New GEMM Lab publication reveals trade-offs in prey quantity and quality in gray whale foraging

By Lisa Hildebrand, PhD student, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab Obtaining enough food is crucial for predators to ensure adequate energy gain for maintenance of vital functions and support for energetically costly life history events (e.g., reproduction). Foraging involves decisions at every step of the process, including prey selection, … Continue reading Decisions, decisions: New GEMM Lab publication reveals trade-offs in prey quantity and quality in gray whale foraging