Tag: Field Work

There she blows! Studying blow synchrony in blue and gray whale mother-calf pairs

Maddie Honomichl, CSUMB Undergraduate in Marine Science, 2025  NSF REU and TOPAZ/JASPER Intern

Hi everyone, my name is Maddie Honomichl, and I was one of the two NSF REU interns with the GEMM lab this summer. This fall will be my last semester at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB), where I will receive my undergraduate degree in Marine Science. Growing up in the Arizona desert limited my exposure to large bodies of water but led to memorable family trips to San Diego. With each trip my adoration for the ocean and the vast marine ecosystem emerged, resulting in my choice to go to college at CSU Monterey Bay. During my time at CSUMB, I learned of what internships were and the magnitude of impact these experiences had on my peers. Naturally, I searched online for weeks for future summer internship openings available—eventually leading me to none other than the GEMM Lab’s TOPAZ/JASPER project.

Figure 1. A picture of me, Maddie Honomichl, in Redding, CA.

Celest Sorrentino, my amazing mentor, took me under her wing and helped me complete my very first research project: In sync? Studying blow synchrony in blue and gray whale mother-calf pairs using drone footage. The aim of my project is to understand more about calf development in gray and blue whales by investigating changes in mother-calf blow synchrony. But what is synchrony?

Synchrony can be defined as two individuals attempting to match each other’s behavior (Novotny & Bente 2022) and promote mimicry and learning. For example, humpback whales teaching their calves vocalizations and song patterns to communicate is an instance of synchrony and social learning (Anjara 2018). Another example of synchrony in wildlife is energetic transfer, where a whale calf will swim in alignment with its mother’s slipstream to expend less energy (Norris & Prescott 1961). Just like these behaviors, blow synchrony is a measure we can use in marine mammal mother-calf pairs to evaluate their relationship with each other.

Aside from the TOPAZ/JASPER project, you might already be familiar with two other incredible GEMM lab projects GRANITE and SAPPHIRE. During the years of 2016-2023, drone footage of the Pacific Coast Feeding Group of gray whales was collected along the Oregon coast for the GRANITE project. In 2016, 2017, 2024, and 2025, drone footage for the pygmy blue whales was collected in South Taranaki Bight, New Zealand, for the SAPPHIRE project. Large marine mammals, especially whales, are difficult to study for many reasons including their brief occurrences at the surface and the challenges of studying aquatic animals. However, the use of drones allows for a safer and non-invasive alternative method for marine mammal monitoring in their natural habitat (Álvarez-González et al., 2023).

Figure 2. Two still images taken from GRANITE drone footage. The left is of a mother gray whale blowing and the right is of a gray whale calf blowing

Baleen whale calves only have 6-8 months to learn everything they need to know before they wean and are sent off on their own (Lockyer 1984). I don’t know about you, but if my mom kicked me out after I turned 5 years old, I would be pretty lost. In American culture, the golden age for humans to be considered an adult is around 18 years old, when they finally leave the house and venture on their own. For humans, age is a cultural sign of independence, but not much is known about what factors influence what makes a calf ready to be independent. Blow synchrony between mother-calf pairs during the calf’s weaning period can be used as a metric for calf development, which is important to know more about as calf development and survival rates are critical factors to consider in population dynamics and management efforts.

When do whales eventually leave their mother? We frequently don’t know how old a calf is, so we use three different metrics as proxies of calf maturity. First, we use Total Length (TL), which is the length of the whale from rostrum to fluke (or nose to tail) (Pirotta et. al., 2023) and serves as an indicator of growth. Our next metric is Body Area Index (BAI), similar to BMI in humans, which is a score of body condition to understand how fat or skinny the whale calf is (Burnett et. al., 2019). Total Length and BAI measurements are derived from drone photogrammetry work conducted by the GEMM Lab and CODEX. Our last proxy is Day of Year (DOY), which is the day in the year we sighted the whales.

Figure 3. Demonstrating photogrammetry methods used to measure Total Length and Body Area Index (BAI). On the left is a drone image of a gray whale showing how we calculate Total Length (TL) from rostrum to fluke. This image is also divided into increments which are used to calculate Surface Area (SA), depicted by the green dashed box, and using the equation on the right with TL, BAI is calculated. 

The specific question I addressed was: Does mother-calf blow rate synchrony change as the calf’s Total Length and Body Area Index increase, and Day of Year increases? In other words, does synchrony change as calves become longer, healthier, and the year progresses. Meaning, as the calf grows in length, increases its body condition, and the day of year progresses, the calf will gain independence from its mother and become out of sync.

I analyzed blowhole rates of mother-calf gray and blue whales using  a program called BORIS (Friard & Gamba 2016). BORIS (Behavioral Observation Research Interactive Software) is an online free program where researchers can assign behavior states to animals in video. In BORIS, I watched the drone footage and marked a “blow” event for the mom and calf, recording a specific time stamp per event. I repeated this workflow for each video of both gray and blue whale mom-calf pairs. Once completed, I calculated the average difference of the calf’s timestamp from the mother’s timestamp per pair. The reason behind this approach is that  the larger the average difference, the more asynchronous the calf is with its mother, and the smaller the average difference the more synchronous they will become.

To evaluate the effect of our proxies for age, Total Length, BAI, and Day of Year, on mother-calf blow rate synchrony, I turned to my good friend RStudio. I created a scatterplot and regressions for these relationships (Figure 4). These results indicate that body condition (BAI) may be a better proxy of calf maturity and preparation for weaning in gray whales (p-value = 0.0064), whereas calf Total Length (TL) is more indicative of calf maturity in blue whales (p-value = 0.00097).

Figure 4. Scatterplot describing the relationship between the average difference in breath rate in seconds across our three proxies: (i) Average total length, (ii) Average BAI, (iii) Day of Year. The black line in the linear regression fit to the data produced by the linear model. The error bars around each point are the standard deviation or the variability in their blow synchrony. The bigger the error bars mean the more variation the mother and calf had in their blow rates, and the smaller the error bars means the less variation the mother and calf had in their blow rates. Ultimately to answer my question, for gray whales, blow synchrony between mother and calf decreases with increasing calf Body Area Index (BAI). For our blue whales, mother-calf blow synchrony decreases with increasing calf Total Length (TL).

As I end my 10-week internship summer filled with data collection and analysis, lots of laughs and inside jokes, I am proud to say I have learned so much about the research that goes into a project like mine. As someone who loves marine animals, especially whale sharks, I now have a newfound love for whales that will forever be in my heart. I am so incredibly grateful that I was able to work with the GEMM lab and the amazing team of researchers and scientists it encompasses. Being a first-generation college student comes with its challenges of learning how to navigate higher education without direct guidance of family who had been through the experience. But if there’s one thing I always tell myself, it’s that with a little bit of grit and hard work, you can do anything you put your mind to! Whatever my future holds for me, I hope it is filled with more research opportunities and the chance to work with marine mammals!

Figure 5. An image of Maddie Honomichl, presenting her research poster at the Hatfield summer coastal intern symposium remotely from Port Orford!

References:

Álvarez-González, M., Suarez-Bregua, P., Pierce, G. J., & Saavedra, C. (2023). Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Marine Mammal Research: A Review of Current Applications and Challenges. Drones, 7(11), 667. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7110667

Anjara Saloma. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) mother-calf interactions. Vertebrate Zoology. Université Paris Saclay (COmUE); Université d’Antananarivo, 2018. English. ⟨NNT : 2018SACLS138⟩. ⟨tel-02869389⟩

Burnett, J. D., Lemos, L., Barlow, D., Wing, M. G., Chandler, T., & Torres, L. G. (2019). Estimating morphometric attributes of baleen whales with photogrammetry from small UASs: A case study with blue and gray whales. Marine Mammal Science, 35(1), 108–139. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12527

Friard, O., & Gamba, M. (2016). BORIS: A free, versatile open‐source event‐logging software for video/audio coding and live observations. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 7(11), 1325–1330. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12584

Huetz, C., Saloma, A., Adam, O., Andrianarimisa, A., & Charrier, I. (2022). Ontogeny and synchrony of diving behavior in Humpback whale mothers and calves on their breeding ground. Journal of Mammalogy, 103(3), 576–585. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac010

Lockyer, Christina. (1984). Review of Baleen Whale (Mysticeti) Reproduction and Implications for Management. Reproduction in whales, dolphins and porpoises. Proc. conference, La Jolla, CA, 1981. 6. 27-50.

Norris, K.S., & Prescott, J.H. (1961). Observations of Pacific cetaceans of Californian and Mexican waters. University of California Publications in Zoology, 63, 291- 402.

Novotny, E., & Bente, G. (2022). Identifying Signatures of Perceived Interpersonal Synchrony. Journal of nonverbal behavior, 46(4), 485–517. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-022-00410-9

Pirotta, E., Fernandez Ajó, A., Bierlich, K. C., Bird, C. N., Buck, C. L., Haver, S. M., Haxel, J. H., Hildebrand, L., Hunt, K. E., Lemos, L. S., New, L., & Torres, L. G. (2023). Assessing variation in faecal glucocorticoid co

Smultea, M. A., Fertl, D., Bacon, C. E., Moore, M. R., James, V. R., & Würsig, B. (2017). Cetacean mother-calf behavior observed from a small aircraft off Southern California. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 4(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.12966/abc.01.02.2017

Zoop Gone Missing: A Whale’s Dinner Dilemma

Dawson Mohney, TOPAZ/JASPER HS Intern, Pacific High School Graduate

My name is Dawson Mohney, I am a high school intern for the 2025 TOPAZ/JASPER team this field season. I first heard about the TOPAZ/JASPER internship from my friend Jonah Lewis, a previous intern from the 2023 field season. Coincidentally, Jonah and I both graduated this year from Pacific High School here on the coast—small world. I have called Port Orford my home for most of my life, and in recent years I discovered that a gray whale research project has been happening in my own backyard. Growing up less than a mile from the Oregon Coast, I’ve spent a lot of time looking out into the water. I always liked how, no matter what happened in my life, the ocean was always there. This interest is what encouraged me to apply for the internship with the hope of discovering more about the ocean, a substantial part of my home and family.

Fig 1: Picture fellow intern Maddie took of me (Dawson) during our trip to Natural Bridges.

A critical part of this project is understanding not only the magnificent gray whales but also the much less apparent zooplankton–after all, the whales need to eat a lot of zooplankton! Many different species of zooplankton—“zoop” for short—call the Oregon coast home. Each day, as we kayak to our 12 sample stations within the gray whale feeding grounds of Mill Rocks and Tichenor’s Cove, I find myself wondering which species of zoop I’ll get to identify later under the microscope.

Throughout the duration of this internship, our team has met to discuss a few research papers published by GEMM Lab members, including research produced from the TOPAZ/JASPER projects. Recently, I read, “Do Gray Whales Count Calories? Comparing Energetic Values of Gray Whale Prey Across Two Different Feeding Grounds in the Eastern North Pacific,” by Hildebrand et al. who describe the caloric content of different zooplankton species. Before reading this paper, I didn’t realize whale prey could vary in nutritional value – much like food for humans. This paper made it clear that each of the different species of zooplankton is just as important as the last, but consuming more of the higher caloric species such as the Neomysis rayii or the Dungeness crab larvae would certainly be a welcome meal. Seeing these “healthy” meals in the area makes me hopeful for the whales.

Fig 2: Image of a crab larvae in their megalopae stage.

From reading previous blog posts, the foraging habits of the whales this season appear to be unusual. In prior TOPAZ/JASPER field seasons, gray whales have often been tracked foraging near or around our Mill Rocks and Tichenor Cove study sites. This season, we haven’t tracked a single whale in Mill Rocks and only two in Tichenor Cove. Could there just not be enough good zoop?

Along with this lack of whales, there does seem to be a lack of these “high calorie zoop species”. Our team has most frequently collected samples primarily comprising of Atylus tridens, a lower calorie prey type. In fact, during one of our earlier kayak training days this field season we collected 2,019 individual A. tridens. However, since this day we have collected sparse amounts of zooplankton in our samples, ranging from zero to 121 in a given sample. Our total zoop count thus far is 2,524 zooplankton, a third of the total zooplankton collected last field season.

Fig 3: Image of an Atylus tridens under a microscope.

As for whale presence, we have been observing many whales blows near Hell’s Gate as mentioned in last week’s blog written by fellow intern Miranda Fowles. From our cliff site, it has been difficult to know whether these are gray whales or a different kind of whale, leading us to venture out to the Heads to get a better look. The persistence of whales in this area is certainly unusual, and perhaps it can be explained by a larger amount of higher calorie zooplankton species in the Hell’s Gate area.

Fig 4: Dawson tracking blows by Hell’s Gate with the theodolite.

Being part of the TOPAZ/JASPER project, I have become exposed to what the true meaning is behind “fieldwork,” including learning how to be flexible and adapt to new challenges every day. What I have most enjoyed is the team’s ability to overcome any new hurdle together as a unit.  My dad often says, “You learn something new every day,” and this internship couldn’t embody this quote more. In just these 5 weeks, it almost feels like my head is now a couple sizes bigger.

Before this experience, I never thought much about how one might track a whale or how different microscopic species could have such a profound impact on a whale’s decision to forage. Now I feel I understand just how important these less than obvious factors are and the effort which goes behind understanding these relationships. I can only hope future opportunities teach me as much as joining the TOPAZ/JASPER legacy has—it’s an experience that, even just a few days into the 2025 field season, I knew would be hard to match.

Fig 4: Dawson (navigator) and Miranda (sampler) during kayak training on their way to Mill Rocks.

Hildebrand, L., Bernard, K. S., & Torres, L. G. (2021). Do Gray Whales Count Calories? Comparing Energetic Values of Gray Whale Prey Across Two Different Feeding Grounds in the Eastern North Pacific. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 683634. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.683634

Whales Off Course: Theodolite Tracking in an Unpredicted Area

Miranda Fowles, GEMM Lab TOPAZ/JASPER Intern, OSU Fisheries and Wildlife Undergraduate

Hello! My name is Miranda Fowles, and I am the OSU intern for the 2025 TOPAZ/JASPER project this summer! I recently earned my bachelor’s degree – almost, I have one more term, but I walked at commencement in June – from Oregon State University in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences and a minor in Spanish. My interest in whales began at a young age during a visit to SeaWorld. While I didn’t enjoy the killer whale shows for their entertainment aspect, this exposure allowed me to see a whale for the first time. From then on, I knew I wanted to contribute to understanding more about these animals, even if I wasn’t always sure how to make that happen. My decision to pursue Fisheries and Wildlife sciences was set from the beginning, however I wondered if there were actually opportunities to study whales.

Last summer, I was a MACO intern and stayed at the Hatfield Marine Science Center where I met last year’s TOPAZ/JASPER REU student, Sophia Kormann, and she raved all about her experience, so I just had to apply for this year’s internship! I remember feeling so nervous for the interview, but Dr. Leigh Torres and Celest Sorrentino’s kindness and inspiration quickly put me to ease. When I found out I was offered the position, I was just more excited than I’d ever been!

My day-to-day life as a TOPAZ/JASPER intern here at the Port Orford Field Station looks one of two ways: either on the kayak or the cliff site. When we are ocean kayaking, we go to our 12 sampling sites in the Mill Rocks and Tichenor Cove study areas (Fig. 1), where we collect zooplankton samples (Fig. 2) and oceanographic data with our RBR (an oceanographic instrument), as well as GoPro footage. When on the cliff site, we keep our eyes peeled for any whales to take pictures of them and mark their location in the water with a theodolite.

Fig. 1: Map of our study sites (Tichenor Cove and Mill Rocks) and where we have been seeing gray whales (Hell’s Gate) circled in green, and our Cliff Site.
Fig. 2: Miranda Fowles out on the kayak pointing at her zooplankton samples.

A theodolite is an instrument that is used for mapping and engineering; in our case it is used to track where a gray whale blows and surfaces (For more info, please see this blog by previous intern Jonah Lewis). Each time a whale surfaces, we use the theodolite to create a point in space that marks its location. Once we have multiple points, we can draw lines between each point to establish the track of the whale. These tracklines can then be used to make assumptions of the whales’ behavior. For example, if the trackline is straight, and the individual is moving at a consistent speed and direction, we can assume the whale is transiting. Whereas if the trackline is going back and forth in one small area, the whale is likely searching or foraging for food (Hildebrand et al., 2022).

In last week’s blog my peer Nautika Brown showed how photo ID is a critical part in our field methods. When theodolite tracking, we assign a number with each new individual whale observation. If the whale is close enough, we also capture photographs of the whale (Fig. 3) and match it up to its given number, allowing us to link the trackline to an individual whale so we can understand more about individual behavior. Documenting individual specific behavior is important because previous research has shown that age, size and the individual ID of a whale can all influence different foraging tactic use (Bird et al., 2024). Therefore, each season as we collect more and more data, we establish a repertoire of recurring or new behaviors to sieve for trends and patterns.

Fig. 3: Photo of a gray whale surfacing captured from our cliff site.

I find animal behavior to be an integral role in many ecological studies, and I am intrigued to explore this topic more. As marine mammals that spend most of their time underwater, cetaceans are quite an inconspicuous species to study (Bird et al., 2024), but by studying their ecology through photo ID and theodolite tracking we get insight into who they are, how they behave, and where they go.

Up until this point in the season, we have theodolite tracked gray whales for 12 hours and 3 minutes (woohoo). Interestingly, most of these tracks of whales have been near an area called “Hell’s Gate”, which is located around large rocks toward the far west of our study site (Figs. 2 and 4). We can assume, but cannot be sure, that the whales are feeding here because they spend so much time in the area, and return day after day. According to Dr. Torres, the consistent use of this area near Hell’s Gate by gray whales is unusual. In the prior 10 years of the TOPAZ project, few whales have been tracked foraging in this area near Hell’s Gate, but rather most whales have foraged in the Mill Rocks and Tichenor Cove areas. It is interesting to think about why the whales are behaving differently this year. Maybe this is due to variations in prey availability at these different sites. In recent years, Port Orford has been affected by a surge in purple sea urchin density, which have overgrazed the once prominent kelp forests here. A high urchin density decreases the kelp condition, which then leads to less habitat for zooplankton, creating a decline in prey availability for gray whales (Hildebrand et al., 2024). Upon reflection of my time on the kayak, I have noticed minimal kelp and low zooplankton abundance when conducting our zooplankton drops in our Mill Rocks and Tichenor Cove study sites. Additionally, I have also noticed many purple sea urchins in our GoPro videos. With the effects of this trophic cascade in mind, not observing any gray whales in our traditional study sites is understandable. With these gray whales more commonly seen near Hell’s Gate this year, I am curious to know what prey is attracting them there. Perhaps it is a different type of prey species or one that is high in caloric value than what is in the Mill Rocks and Tichenor Cove areas.

Fig. 4: Intern Nautika Brown looking at Hell’s Gate through the binoculars. Hell’s Gate is the passage between the two large boulders in the distance.

From actively observing whales and learning from my mentor, Celest, I have started to understand that behavior is a critical piece to any form of studying gray whales (and all species). By integrating photo-ID and theodolite tracking, we can learn so much about whale behavior, from where they eat, who is spending time where, and how they may adjust their behavior in response to a changing environment. The TOPAZ/JASPER internship has allowed me to truly comprehend what field research is like, how studying the behaviors of an individual is important, and how detail and patience are extremely necessary when collecting data. As this summer is continuing, I wonder if we will continue to see gray whales primarily feeding in the Hell’s Gate area, or if we will start to observe them more in the Mill Rocks and Tichenor Cove sites like previous years. The thrill of seeing gray whales is unlike any other, and I am so ready to see more whales this season!

References:

Bird, C. N., Pirotta, E., New, L., Bierlich, K. C., Donnelly, M., Hildebrand, L., Fernandez Ajó, A., & Torres, L. G. (2024). Growing into it: Evidence of an ontogenetic shift in grey whale use of foraging tactics. Animal Behaviour, 214, 121–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.06.004

Hildebrand, L., Derville, S., Hildebrand, I., & Torres, L. G. (2024). Exploring indirect effects of a classic trophic cascade between urchins and kelp on zooplankton and whales. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 9815. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59964-x

Hildebrand, L, Sullivan, F. A., Orben, R. A., Derville. S., Torres L. G. (2022) Trade-offs in prey quantity and quality in gray whale foraging. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 695:189-201 https://doi-org.oregonstate.idm.oclc.org/10.3354/meps14115

A Nauti(k)al Journey with Photo ID  

Nautika Brown, GEMM Lab TOPAZ/JASPER Intern, recent Lake Roosevelt high school graduate 

Hi everyone! I’m Nautika Brown, a recent graduate at Lake Roosevelt High School in a small town on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington.  

Growing up in beautiful Eastern Washington, I spent most all my days outside and, from the time I could swim, I was in the water. When I was little, I used to wish I was a fish so I could live underwater and swim every day of my life. And since then, I have always been fascinated by all animals that could live in and around water. This very fascination is what sparked the idea of becoming a marine biologist. Animals AND water, perfect! 

(Left): Nautika holding a fish she caught back home in Buffalo Lake.
(Right) Nautika with a new type of catch (purple sea urchin) while conducting a zooplankton drop at station MR 18.

Although, as you might assume, living on a reservation surrounded by wheat fields and a few lakes, there weren’t a lot of opportunities to explore my passion. Hence, when I came across a flyer for the 2025 TOPAZ/JASPER internship just a few days before the deadline, I submitted my application as soon as I could. I was so thrilled, I couldn’t imagine getting the chance to kayak with whales on the ocean! It was all I could talk about for weeks on end. 

Since starting my internship here in Port Orford, I have learned so many new things. During our first couple weeks at the field station, we went through a few different classes and trainings, one of them being a presentation on photo identification by GEMM Lab PhD candidate Lisa Hildebrand. Prior to this presentation, I had no idea photos were so important in marine mammal science. During this presentation, I learned about the many different identifiers of a whale and how you can apply them when looking at photos to identify a specific individual. For example, Lisa’s rule of three’s: to confidently ascertain an individual’s ID, at least 3 consistent characteristics between photos must be matched. At the end of this presentation, we even played a guessing game to test our new photo ID’ing skills. (I did pretty well – not to brag or anything.) 

Now with my new photo ID skills, I was excited to capture a photo of a gray whale. On our second day of training, we did spot a whale—but thanks to my newly learned photo-ID skills, I quickly realized it wasn’t the gray whale I was expecting. When the whale first surfaced, I noticed the lack of dorsal knuckles and its distinctly darker body—clear signs it wasn’t a gray whale, but a humpback whale! While it is common to see gray whales from shore along the Oregon coast as they feed in the very nearshore habitat, humpback whales are typically found in much deeper waters, further from shore. Over the last week we have seen a humpback whale within our study site across several days—and we’re not the only ones!  When chatting with the local fisherman pre and post kayak, a few have expressed their own excitement about seeing a humpback so close to shore as well. Throughout our conversations, the question of why a humpback would be so close to shore weighed on our minds, leading me to do my own online research.  

To investigate whether these humpback sightings have been of the same individual or multiple different whales, I decided to review the photos we have captured to try and determine a match. Once I conducted a first pass of the photos, I downloaded 10 of the most clear and definite shots and compared the photos using Lisa’s rule of threes. After reviewing the photos, I noticed that the humpback whale’s dorsal hump resembled one from a previous sighting, but I couldn’t find any other distinguishing markings on its body. While I couldn’t confirm we have been observing the same humpback whale, I gained a deeper understanding of the importance of clear, high-quality photos in photo-ID work.

(Left) Nautika getting ready to take pictures of whales with camera on our cliff site. 
(Right) Picture of humpback whale caught on camera on our 2nd day of training

After reading a few articles about humpback whale migration through Oregon, I found a few potential reasons behind this whale’s occurrence close to the shores of Port Orford. During the summer months, humpbacks travel to colder, more nutrient-dense places to feed, often near the shelf break (where the depth of the ocean suddenly gets deeper, around 200 m). Interestingly, the shelf break near Port Orford is not far from shore, and is a known hotspot for foraging humpback whales in the summer (Derville et al. 2022).  Humpback whales filter-feed on krill and small fish, so perhaps enough prey has moved into the waters near Port Orford to attract a humpback so close to shore. Another reason for this humpback to be close to shore could be the effects of climate change. As the waters warm, food distribution changes, causing multiple species, including humpbacks, to change their feeding grounds and migration routes (read more here).  Although the humpback sightings are outside the range of our kayak zooplankton sampling stations, it would be interesting to see what prey is in the water that is keeping them around.

So far, I have learned the importance of photo identification in marine mammal science and the many ways it can be used. I’m especially grateful for Lisa’s fun and insightful presentation at the start of the season and even more surprised by how quickly I was able to put those photo-ID skills into practice. With three weeks left in the field season, I’m excited to keep building on what I’ve learned and to keep growing my skills. And speaking of building, I’m also curious to see how my “kayak muscles” are shaping up by the end of this amazing TOPAZ/JASPER internship!  

  (Left) Nautika and Celest on kayak heading Mill Rocks stations. 
(Right) Miranda and Nautika wrapping up kayak training with a celebratory team dab

Derville, S., D.R. Barlow, C. Hayslip, and L.G. Torres, Seasonal, Annual, and Decadal Distribution of Three Rorqual Whale Species Relative to Dynamic Ocean Conditions Off Oregon, USA. Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022. 9: p. 868566.

A pinch of salty, silly, and science-y: meet Team Dabwich

Celest Sorrentino, GEMM Lab Master’s student, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab 

As a loyal and trusted GEMM Lab blog reader, I am sure you know just what time of year it is: the beginning of the 11th annual TOPAZ/JASPER field season where we study whales and their prey while also training the next generation of scientists. The start of the season has been kicked into high tail already and we have many updates to share. Fear not, dear reader, as I am here to release you from relentlessly refreshing your inbox for the long-awaited introduction of the TOPAZ/JASPER team that is taking the project into their second decade.

But first, to appreciate the present milestone, it’s worth revisiting the legacy of those who guided us to this moment. The TOPAZ/JASPER  projects began in 2015, with PI. Dr. Leigh Torres and master’s student Florence Sullivan (2015-2018), and continued forward with Lisa Hildebrand (2018-2021), and Allison Dawn (2022-2024). Now, as a new droplet in this stream of brilliant leaders before me, I feel immense gratitude to be the master’s student leading the TOPAZ/JASPER team this summer. Having been trained by Allison Dawn with Team Protein in 2024, and full unwavering support from Leigh and each leader before me, I enter this new role with confidence and excitement for the next six gray-whale-and-zooplankton filled weeks of data collection. Now, let’s meet the young scientist interns for 2025!

(Left picture) Maddie (right) with Nautika (top) and Celest (left) during their kayak training.
(Right picture) Photo Maddie took of a humpback in the Port Orford Bay.

Madison (Maddie) Honomichl is a senior wrapping up her last  semester of undergrad at CSU Monterrey Bay this fall to gain a degree in Marine Science. As the GEMM Lab’s REU intern this summer, Maddie began her internship in June by joining me in Newport to learn more about gray whale and pymgy blue whale mother-calf relationships. Without spoiling too much (you’ll hear more from her in her blog post in just a few weeks!) her project focuses on capturing mother-calf blow synchrony of gray and blue whales in drone footage. Now in Port Orford, her gifted talent for photography has been excellent in helping capture photos of traveling whales on the cliff.

(Left picture) Nautika finding a purple urchin after a successful zooplankton drop at our station MR 18.
(Right picture) Miranda(front) and Nautika(rear) after their first kayak training, where Nautika accidentally fell into the water but got back on the kayak in record breaking time, still in good spirits to dab!

Nautika Brown is one of our high school interns from Coulee Dam, Washington. Having just graduated, Nautika’s ambition and passion for studying wildlife lead her to apply to our TOPAZ/JASPER project and we are so happy she did. Accidentally hilarious, she has made everything from kayak training to zooplankton identification that much more enjoyable—reminding the team to have some fun while still getting the job done.

(Left picture) Dawson leading the team with the heavy theodolite stand up to the cliff.
(Right picture) The team hyper locked in on tracking a humpback whale in the bay, working together to describe the position of the whale for Dawson on the theodolite.

Dawson Mohney is our Port Orford local, having recently graduated from Pacific High School in May. Though he might not know the best spots around town, Dawson’s demeanor mirrors that of Port Orford itself: kind, welcoming, and always helpful. Always up for any task, he is the first to ask if anyone needs help with carrying equipment up to the cliff or cooking a ground beef refried beans mash for team dinner. Come fall Dawson is excited to start his first semester at Southwestern Oregon Community college.

(Left picture) Miranda enjoying an outdoor stroll of Port Orford beaches.
(Right picture) Miranda stoked on catching so many atylus tridens for her first kayak training day!

Miranda Fowles is a recent graduate at Oregon State University having completed her major in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences with a minor in Spanish. Originally from Seattle, her childhood memories include kayaking with her family, so ocean kayaking has come naturally. Miranda’s genuine curiosity shines through in her eagerness to ask questions about whale life histories and their social dynamics. She’s expressed a clear passion for continuing her journey in marine science and academia.

We are now T-minus 2 days until the last of the team’s training period, and we couldn’t be more thrilled for the 4 more weeks to come. Through unexpected wildlife sightings and spontaneous team jokes, our team has only grown stronger and more connected. For all of the interns, this experience is not only their first experience with marine fieldwork, but also their longest. Training days have been both rewarding and physically strengthening; we’ve watched harbor seals lounging between Mill Rocks and tracked a particularly active humpback whale that keeps surfacing in the bay—all while developing what we now call our “ultimate kayak muscles.” By the time lunch rolls around, it feels like an ultimate power recharge, to continue forward with data processing. As any marine field scientist will tell you: there’s something deeply satisfying about coming back to shore and sinking your teeth into a handmade sandwich.

And speaking of our absolute craving for sandwiches, this team has unexpectedly brought back the 2010s dab—with such enthusiasm that it was only right to fuse “dab” with our love for chips-in-sandwiches. With this, I share with your our new, very official team name:

Team Dabwich.

With the right amount of salty, silly, and scienc-y, Team Dabwich is ready to crush the 11th TOPAZ/JASPER field season.

Team Dabwich dabbing right before a successful kayak training
ヽ(⌐_⌐ゞ)!

The Final Chapter: Concluding a PhD

By Rachel Kaplan, PhD candidate, Oregon State University College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab

At the beginning of a graduate program, it’s common for people to tell you how quickly the time will pass, but hard to imagine that will really be the case. Suddenly, I’ve been working on my PhD for almost five years, and I’ll defend in just over two weeks. As I look back, I am amazed by how much I have learned and grown during this time, and how all the different parts of my graduate school experience have woven together. I began my program in 2020 with an intense “bootcamp” of oceanographic coursework, and am ending in 2025 with new analytical skills, a few publications, and a ton of new thoughts about whales and the zooplankton krill, the subjects of my research. My PhD work encapsulates all those different elements in an exploration of ecological relationships between baleen whale predators and their krill prey – which I now see as an expression of oceanographic and atmospheric processes.

Figure 1. One of my favorite sightings during my PhD fieldwork was a group of seven fin whales in Antarctica, on Christmas 2024. Photo: Rachel Kaplan

Oceanographic processes drive prey quantity and quality across time and space, shaping the preyscape encountered by predators on their foraging grounds and driving habitat use (Fleming et al., 2016; Ryan et al., 2022). Aspects of prey including distribution, energy density, and biomass therefore represent mechanistic links between ocean and atmospheric conditions (e.g., El Niño Southern Oscillation cycles, circulation patterns, and upwelling processes) and diverse aspects of marine predator ecology, including spatiotemporal distributions, foraging behaviors, reproductive success, population size, and health. Both predator and prey species are impacted by environmental variability and climate change (e.g., Hauser et al., 2017; Atkinson et al., 2019; Perryman et al., 2021), and events like marine heatwaves and harmful algal blooms can force ecosystem changes on short, seasonal time scales (e.g. McCabe et al., 2016; Fisher et al., 2020). However, many marine species have some degree of plasticity that allows them to still accomplish life history events in the face of ecosystem variability (e.g., Lawrence, 1976; Oestreich, 2022), which may provide the capacity to adapt to climate change processes.

Observing and describing predator-prey relationships is complex due to the scale-dependent nature of these relationships (Levin, 1992). Each chapter of my dissertation considered krill, a globally-important prey type, from the perspective of baleen whales, which are krill predators. Chapter 2 used a comparative analysis to identify the optimal spatial scale at which to observe baleen whale-krill relationships on the Northern California Current (NCC) foraging grounds. We found correlations at a 5 km scale to be strongest, which can provide a useful starting point for further studies in the NCC and other systems. Chapter 3 used this spatial scale to compare several aspects of krill prey quality and quantity as predictors of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) distributions in the NCC. The best performing metric was a species, season, and spatially informed krill swarm biomass variable – yet the comparable performance of a simple acoustic abundance metric indicated that it can act as a reliable proxy for biomass. This finding may be advantageous for future research, as measuring the acoustic proxy is less computationally intensive and relies on fewer datastreams. Interestingly, one of this study’s best-performing models was based on only the proportion of Thysanoessa spinifera in krill swarms, which is also a highly accessible variable due to effective krill species distribution modeling in the NCC (Derville et al., 2024). Integrating the acoustic abundance proxy and krill species distribution predictions, two relatively simple metrics, could support predictions of humpback whale distributions in the NCC and inform whale-prey research in other ecosystems.

Figure 2. Collecting samples of individual krill gave us the opportunity to learn about their quality as prey for whales in the Northern California Current. Photo: Courtney Flatt

Studies relating predator foraging to prey characteristics often rely on metrics such as prey biomass or energy density (Schrimpf et al., 2012; Savoca et al., 2021; Cade et al., 2022), but the tendency of krill to form aggregations introduces dimensionality to krill prey quality. Chapter 4 showed that elements of krill swarm structure (particularly depth, proportion of T. spinifera, and metrics describing how krill occupy space within swarms) may be mechanistic drivers of variable blue, fin and humpback whale distribution patterns on the NCC foraging grounds. These findings suggest that krill swarm characteristics may be important links between baleen whales and the foraging environment. Swarm characteristics may be considered a component of krill prey quality for baleen whales, and future research could illuminate direct causal relationships between oceanographic conditions, krill swarming responses, and niche expression in baleen whale predators. 

The relationships between baleen whale distributions and krill quantity and quality explored in the first chapters of my dissertation may also shed light on other aspects of baleen whale ecology. The final chapter considers overwintering trends in global baleen whale populations, and examines the wintertime Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) as a case study. Extended humpback whale presence on the WAP feeding grounds may be driven by the profitable feeding areas and elevated energy content of krill during the winter months, and may reflect the high energetic needs of certain demographic subgroups (e.g. lactating females, juveniles). Wintertime humpback whale presence may also reflect adaptation to multifaceted competitive pressure on krill resources that are declining due to climate change (Atkinson et al., 2019), including consumption by growing baleen whale populations (Johnston et al., 2011) and a fishery whose catch limits may be impacting krill predators (Watters et al., 2020; Savoca et al., 2024). This work demonstrates how investigating prey quality during the winter months can contextualize baleen whale overwintering on the foraging grounds. It also provides a meaningful violation of the canonical baleen whale migration paradigm central to marine mammal science, which may lessen the efficacy of whale monitoring programs and management policies. 

Figure 3. We were surprised to see humpback whales like this one in Antarctica during the winter months — which raised a number of questions about overwintering of baleen whales on foraging grounds around the world. Photo: Giulia Wood

Management efforts that aim to mitigate risk to whales often hinge on predictive modeling of whale distributions. Species distribution models (SDMs) can provide managers with spatially and temporally explicit predictions of protected species occurrences (Wikgren et al., 2014; Santora et al., 2020), but species distributions in rapidly changing ecosystems are difficult to predict (Muhling et al., 2020). Findings from this dissertation may inform modeling efforts by suggesting meaningful predictor variables for SDMs, such as krill species on the NCC foraging grounds and swarm energy density at the WAP. This work also speaks to meaningful spatial scales for analyzing predator-prey relationships (i.e., 5 km), and relevant elements of temporal variability (e.g., seasonal cycles of krill energy density).

Just as marine predator-prey relationships are shaped by ocean processes, they likewise have consequences for those processes. For example, krill and other zooplankton are capable of generating large-scale mixing that can overcome stratification of water masses and alter water column structure (Noss and Lorke, 2014). Baleen whales influence global carbon cycles due to the huge amount of prey they consume (Savoca et al., 2021; Pearson et al., 2023) and transport important nutrients along the “great whale conveyer belt” during their vast migrations (Roman et al., 2025). Baleen whales seek krill as an essential prey resource on foraging grounds around the globe, and the impact of this trophic interaction scales up, with implications for ecosystem functioning and management. Continued research into the spatiotemporally dynamic relationships between krill and baleen whales improves our understanding of ocean functioning, and can improve our capacity to live as part of this system.

References

Atkinson, A., Hill, S. L., Pakhomov, E. A., Siegel, V., Reiss, C. S., Loeb, V. J., Steinberg, D. K., et al. 2019. Krill (Euphausia superba) distribution contracts southward during rapid regional warming. Nature Climate Change, 9: 142–147.

Cade, D. E., Kahane-Rapport, S. R., Wallis, B., Goldbogen, J. A., and Friedlaender, A. S. 2022. Evidence for Size-Selective Predation by Antarctic Humpback Whales. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9: 747788.

Derville, S., Fisher, J. L., Kaplan, R. L., Bernard, K. S., Phillips, E. M., and Torres, L. G. 2024. A predictive krill distribution model for Euphausia pacifica and Thysanoessa spinifera using scaled acoustic backscatter in the Northern California Current. Progress in Oceanography: 103388.

Fisher, J. L., Menkel, J., Copeman, L., Shaw, C. T., Feinberg, L. R., and Peterson, W. T. 2020. Comparison of condition metrics and lipid content between Euphausia pacifica and Thysanoessa spinifera in the northern California Current, USA. Progress in Oceanography, 188.

Fleming, A. H., Clark, C. T., Calambokidis, J., and Barlow, J. 2016. Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current. Glob Chang Biol, 22: 1214–24.

Hauser, D. D. W., Laidre, K. L., Stafford, K. M., Stern, H. L., Suydam, R. S., and Richard, P. R. 2017. Decadal shifts in autumn migration timing by Pacific Arctic beluga whales are related to delayed annual sea ice formation. Global Change Biology, 23: 2206–2217.

Johnston, S. J., Zerbini, A. N., and Butterworth, D. S. 2011. A Bayesian approach to assess the status of Southern Hemipshere humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) with an application to Breeding Stock G. J. Cetacean Res. Manage.: 309–317. International Whaling Commission.

Lawrence, J. M. 1976. Patterns of Lipid Storage in Post-Metamorphic Marine Invertebrates. American Zoologist, 16: 747–762. Oxford University Press (OUP).

Levin, S. A. 1992. The Problem of Pattern and Scale in Ecology: The Robert H. MacArthur Award Lecture. Ecology, 73: 1943–1967.

McCabe, R. M., Hickey, B. M., Kudela, R. M., Lefebvre, K. A., Adams, N. G., Bill, B. D., Gulland, F. M., et al. 2016. An unprecedented coastwide toxic algal bloom linked to anomalous ocean conditions. Geophys Res Lett, 43: 10366–10376.

Muhling, B. A., Brodie, S., Smith, J. A., Tommasi, D., Gaitan, C. F., Hazen, E. L., Jacox, M. G., et al. 2020. Predictability of Species Distributions Deteriorates Under Novel Environmental Conditions in the California Current System. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7.

Noss, C., and Lorke, A. 2014. Direct observation of biomixing by vertically migrating zooplankton. Limnology and Oceanography, 59: 724–732. Wiley.

Oestreich, W. 2022. Acoustic signature reveals blue whales tune life‐history transitions to oceanographic conditions. Functional Ecology. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14013 (Accessed 20 September 2024).

Pearson, H. C., Savoca, M. S., Costa, D. P., Lomas, M. W., Molina, R., Pershing, A. J., Smith, C. R., et al. 2023. Whales in the carbon cycle: can recovery remove carbon dioxide? Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 38: 238–249.

Perryman, W. L., Joyce, T., Weller, D. W., and Durban, J. W. 2021. Environmental factors influencing eastern North Pacific gray whale calf production 1994–2016. Marine Mammal Science, 37: 448–462. Wiley.

Roman, J., Abraham, A. J., Kiszka, J. J., Costa, D. P., Doughty, C. E., Friedlaender, A., Hückstädt, L. A., et al. 2025. Migrating baleen whales transport high-latitude nutrients to tropical and subtropical ecosystems. Nature Communications, 16: 2125. Nature Publishing Group.

Ryan, J. P., Benoit-Bird, K. J., Oestreich, W. K., Leary, P., Smith, K. B., Waluk, C. M., Cade, D. E., et al. 2022. Oceanic giants dance to atmospheric rhythms: Ephemeral wind-driven resource tracking by blue whales. Ecology Letters, 25: 2435–2447.

Santora, J. A., Mantua, N. J., Schroeder, I. D., Field, J. C., Hazen, E. L., Bograd, S. J., Sydeman, W. J., et al. 2020. Habitat compression and ecosystem shifts as potential links between marine heatwave and record whale entanglements. Nat Commun, 11: 536.

Savoca, M. S., Czapanskiy, M. F., Kahane-Rapport, S. R., Gough, W. T., Fahlbusch, J. A., Bierlich, K. C., Segre, P. S., et al. 2021. Baleen whale prey consumption based on high-resolution foraging measurements. Nature, 599: 85–90.

Savoca, M. S., Kumar, M., Sylvester, Z., Czapanskiy, M. F., Meyer, B., Goldbogen, J. A., and Brooks, C. M. 2024. Whale recovery and the emerging human-wildlife conflict over Antarctic krill. Nature Communications, 15: 7708. Nature Publishing Group.

Schrimpf, M., Parrish, J., and Pearson, S. 2012. Trade-offs in prey quality and quantity revealed through the behavioral compensation of breeding seabirds. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 460: 247–259.

Watters, G. M., Hinke, J. T., and Reiss, C. S. 2020. Long-term observations from Antarctica demonstrate that mismatched scales of fisheries management and predator-prey interaction lead to erroneous conclusions about precaution. Scientific Reports, 10: 2314.

Wikgren, B., Kite-Powell, H., and Kraus, S. 2014. Modeling the distribution of the North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis off coastal Maine by areal co-kriging. Endangered Species Research, 24: 21–31.

New GEMM Lab study indicates troubled times for PCFG gray whales

Dr. Enrico Pirotta (CREEM, University of St Andrews) and Dr. Leigh Torres (GEMM Lab, MMI, OSU)

The health of animals affects their ability to survive and reproduce, which, in turn, drives the dynamics of populations, including whether their abundance trends up or down. Thus, understanding the links between health and reproduction can help us evaluate the impact of human activities and climate change on wildlife, and effectively guide our management and conservation efforts. In long-lived species, such as whales, once a decline in population abundance is detected, it can be too late to reverse the trend, so early warning signals are needed to indicate how these populations are faring.

We worked on this complex issue in a study that was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. In this paper, we developed a new statistical approach to link three key components of the health of a Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG) gray whale (namely, its body size, body condition, and stress levels) to a female’s ability to give birth to a calf. We were able to inform these metrics of whale health using an eight-year dataset derived from the GRANITE project of aerial images from drones for measurements of body size and condition, and fecal samples for glucocorticoid hormone analysis as an indicator of stress. We combined these data with observations of females with or without calves throughout the PCFG range over our study period.

We found that for a female to successfully have a calf, she needs to be both large and fat, as these factors indicate if the female has enough energy stored to support reproduction that year (Fig. 1). Remarkably, we also found indication that females with particularly high stress hormone levels may not get pregnant in the first place, which is the first demonstration of a link between stress physiology and vital rates in a baleen whale, to our knowledge.

Figure 1. Taken from Pirotta et al. (2025), Fig. 5. Combined relationship of PCFG gray whale length and nutritional state (combination of body size and condition) in the previous year with calving probability, colored by whether the model estimated an individual to have calved or not at a given reproductive opportunity.

Our study’s findings are concerning given our previous research indicating that gray whales in this PCFG sub-group have been growing to shorter lengths over the last couple of decades (Pirotta et al. 2023), are thinner than animals in the broader Eastern North Pacific gray whale population (Torres et al, 2022), and show an increase in stress-related hormones when exposed to human activities (Lemos et al, 2022; Pirotta et al. 2023). Furthermore, in our recent study we also documented that there are fewer young individuals than expected for a growing or stable population (Fig. 2), which can be an indicator of a population in decline since there may not be many individuals entering the reproductive adult age groups. Altogether, our results act as early warning signals that the PCFG may be facing a possible population decline currently or in the near future.

Figure 2. Taken from Pirotta et al. (2025), Fig. 1. Age structure diagram for 139 PCFG gray whales in our dataset. Each bar represents the number of individuals of a given age in 2023, with the color indicating the proportion of individuals of that age for which age is known (vs. estimated from a minimum estimate following Pirotta, Bierlich, et al., 2024). The red line reports a smooth kernel density estimate of the distribution.

These findings are sobering news for Oregon residents and tourists who enjoy watching these whales along our coast every summer and fall. We have gotten to know many of these whales so well – like Scarlett, Equal, Clouds, Lunita, and Pacman, who you can meet on our IndividuWhale website – that we wonder how they will adapt and survive as their once reliable habitat and prey-base changes. We hope our work sparks collective and multifaceted efforts to reduce impacts on these unique PCFG whales, and that we can continue the GRANITE project for many more years to come to monitor these whales and learn from their response to change.

This work exemplifies the incredible value of long-term studies, interdisciplinary methods, and effective collaboration. Through many years of research on this gray whale group, we have collected detailed data on diverse aspects of their behavior, ecology and life history that are critical to understanding their response to disturbance and environmental change, which are both escalating in the study region. We are incredibly grateful to the following members of the PCFG Consortium for contributing sightings and calf observation data that supported this study: Jeff Jacobsen, Carrie Newell, NOAA Fisheries (Peter Mahoney and Jeff Harris), Cascadia Research Collective (Alie Perez), Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada (Thomas Doniol-Valcroze and Erin Foster), Mark Sawyer and Ashley Hoyland, Wendy Szaniszlo, Brian Gisborne, Era Horton.

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References:

Lemos, Leila S., Joseph H. Haxel, Amy Olsen, Jonathan D. Burnett, Angela Smith, Todd E. Chandler, Sharon L. Nieukirk, Shawn E. Larson, Kathleen E. Hunt, and Leigh G. Torres. “Effects of Vessel Traffic and Ocean Noise on Gray Whale Stress Hormones.” Scientific Reports 12, no. 1 (2022): 18580. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14510-5.

Pirotta, Enrico, K. C. Bierlich, Leslie New, Lisa Hildebrand, Clara N. Bird, Alejandro Fernandez Ajó, and Leigh G. Torres. “Modeling Individual Growth Reveals Decreasing Gray Whale Body Length and Correlations with Ocean Climate Indices at Multiple Scales.” Global Change Biology 30, no. 6 (2024): e17366. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17366. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.17366.

Pirotta, Enrico, Alejandro Fernandez Ajó, K. C. Bierlich, Clara N Bird, C Loren Buck, Samara M Haver, Joseph H Haxel, Lisa Hildebrand, Kathleen E Hunt, Leila S Lemos, Leslie New, and Leigh G Torres. “Assessing Variation in Faecal Glucocorticoid Concentrations in Gray Whales Exposed to Anthropogenic Stressors.” Conservation Physiology 11, no. 1 (2023). https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad082.

Torres, Leigh G., Clara N. Bird, Fabian Rodríguez-González, Fredrik Christiansen, Lars Bejder, Leila Lemos, Jorge Urban R, et al. “Range-Wide Comparison of Gray Whale Body Condition Reveals Contrasting Sub-Population Health Characteristics and Vulnerability to Environmental Change.” Frontiers in Marine Science 9 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.867258. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2022.867258

Speeding Up, Slowing Down, and Choosing My Fig

Celest Sorrentino, incoming master’s student, OSU Dept of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, GEMM Lab

It’s late June, a week before I head back to the West Coast, and I’m working one of my last shifts as a server in New York. Summer had just turned on and the humidity was just getting started, but the sun brought about a liveliness in the air that was contagious. Our regulars traded the city heat for beaches in the Hamptons, so I stood by the door, watching the flow of hundreds upon hundreds of people fill the streets of Manhattan. My manager and I always chatted to pass the time between rushes, and he began to ask me how I felt to move across the country and start my master’s program so soon.

“I am so excited!” I beamed, “Also a bit nervous–”

“Nervous? Why? 

“Are you nervous you’ll become the person you’re meant to be?”

As a first-generation Hispanic student, I found solace in working in hospitality. Working in a restaurant for four years was a means to support myself to attain an undergraduate degree–but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also love it. I found joy in orchestrating a unique experience for strangers, who themselves brought their own stories to share, each day bestowing opportunity for new friendships or new lessons. This industry requires you to be quick on your feet (never mess with a hungry person’s cacio e pepe), exuding a sense of finesse, continuously alert to your client’s needs and desires all the while always exhibiting a specific ambiance.

So why leave to start my master’s degree?

Fig 1: Me as a server with one of my regulars before his trip to Italy. You can never go wrong with Italian!

For anyone I have not had the pleasure yet to meet, my name is Celest Sorrentino, an incoming master’s student in the GEMM Lab this fall. I am currently writing to you from the Port Orford Field Station, located along the charming south coast of Oregon. Although I am new to the South Coast, my relationship with the GEMM Lab is not, but rather has been warmly cultivated ever since the day I first stepped onto the third floor of the Gladys Valley Building, as an NSF REU intern just two summers ago. Since that particular summer, I have gravitated back to the GEMM Lab every summer since: last summer as a research technician and this summer as a co-lead for the TOPAZ/JASPER Project, a program I will continue to spearhead the next two summers. (The GEMM Lab and me, we just have something– what can I say?)

 In the risk of cementing “cornball” to my identity, pursuing a life in whale research had always been my dream ever since I was a little girl. As I grew older, I found an inclination toward education, in particular a specific joy that could only be found when teaching others, whether that meant teaching the difference between “bottom-up” and “top-bottom” trophic cascades to my peers in college, teaching my 11 year old sister how to do fun braids for middle school, or teaching a room full of researchers how I used SLEAP A.I. to track gray whale mother-calf pairs in drone footage.

Onboarding to the TOPAZ/JASPER project was a new world to me, which required me to quickly learn the ins and outs of a program, and eventually being handed the reins of responsibility of the team, all within 1 month and a half. While the TOPAZ/JASPER 2024 team (aka Team Protein!) and I approach our 5th week of field season, to say we have learned “so much” is an understatement.

Our morning data collection commences at 6:30 AM, with each of us alternating daily between the cliff team and kayak team. 

For kayak team, its imperative to assemble all supplies swiftly given that we’re in a race against time, to outrun the inevitable windy/foggy weather conditions. However, diligence is required; if you forget your paddles back at lab or if you run out of charged batteries, that’s less time on the water to collect data and more time for the weather to gain in on you. We speed up against the weather, but also slow down for the details.

Fig 2: Throwback to our first kayak training day with Oceana (left), Sophia(middle), and Eden (right).

For cliff team, we have joined teams with time. At some point within the last few weeks, each of us on the cliff have had to uncover the dexterity within to become true marine mammal observers (for five or six hours straight). Here we survey for any slight shift in a sea of blue that could indicate the presence of a whale– and once we do… its go time. Once a whale blows, miles offshore, the individual manning the theodolite has just a few seconds to find and focus the reticle before the blow dissipates into the wind. If they miss it… its one less coordinate of that whale’s track. We speed up against the whale’s blow, but also slow down for the details. 

Fig 3: Cliff team tracking a whale out by Mill Rocks!

I have found the pattern of speeding up and slowing down are parallels outside of field work as well. In Port Orford specifically, slowing down has felt just as invigorating as the first breath one takes out of the water. For instance, the daily choice we make to squeeze 5 scientists into the world’s slowest elevator down to the lab every morning may not be practical in everyday life, but the extra minute looking at each other’s sleepy faces sets the foundation for our “go” mode. We also sit down after a day of fieldwork, as a team, eating our 5th version of pasta and meatballs while we continue our Hunger Games movie marathon from the night prior. And we chose our “off-day” to stroll among nature’s gentle giants, experiencing together the awe of the Redwoods trees.

Fig 4A & 4B: (A) Team Protein (Sophia, Oceana, Allison, Eden and I) slow morning elevator ride down to the lab. (B) Sophia hugging a tree at the Redwoods!

When my manager asked the above question, I couldn’t help but think upon an excerpt, popularly known as “The Fig Tree” by Sylvia Plath.

Fig 5: The Fig Tree excerpt by Sylvia Plath. Picture credits to @samefacecollective on Instagram.

For my fig tree, I imagine it as grandiose as those Redwood trees. What makes each of us choose one fig over the other is highly variable, just as our figs of possibilities, some of which we can’t make out quite yet. At some point along my life, the fig of owning a restaurant in the Big Apple propped up. But in that moment with my manager, I imagined my oldest fig, with little Celest sitting on the living room floor watching ocean documentaries and wanting nothing more than to conduct whale research, now winking at me as I start my master’s within the GEMM Lab. Your figs might be different from mine but what I believe we share in common is the alternating pace toward our fig. At times we need speeding up while other times we just need slowing down.

Then there’s that sweet spot in between where we can experience both, just as I have being a part of the 2024 TOPAZ/JASPER team.

Fig 6A and 6B: (A) My sister and I excited to go see some dolphins for the first time! (~2008). (B) Taking undergraduate graduation pics with my favorite whale plushy! (2023)

Fig 7: Team Protein takes on Port Orford Minimal Carnival, lots of needed booging after finishing field work!

Reflecting on a solitary journey surrounded by an incredible team

Clara Bird, PhD Candidate, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab

Graduate school is an odd phase of life, at least in my experience. You spend years hyperfocused on a project, learning countless new skills – and the journey is completely unique to you. Unlike high school or undergrad, you are on your own timeline. While you may have peers on similar timelines, at the end of day your major deadlines and milestone dates are your own. This has struck me throughout my time in grad school, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately as I approach my biggest, and final milestone – defending my PhD! 

I defend in just about two months, and to be honest, it’s very odd approaching a milestone like this alone. In high school and college, you count down to the end together. The feelings of anticipation, stress, excitement, and anticipatory grief that can accompany the lead-up to graduation are typically shared. This time, as I’m in an intense final push to the end while processing these emotions, most of the people around me are on their own unique timeline. At times grad school can feel quite lonely, but this journey would have been impossible without an incredible community of people.

A central contradiction of being a grad student is that your research is your own, but you need a variety of communities to successfully complete it. Your community of formal advisors, including your advisor and committee members, guide you along the way and provide feedback. Professors help you fill specific knowledge and skill gaps, while lab mates provide invaluable peer mentorship. Finally, fellow grad students share the experience and can celebrate and commiserate with you. I’ve also had the incredible fortune of having the community of the GRANITE team, and I’ve recently been reflecting on how special the experience has been.

To briefly recap, GRANITE stands for Gray whale Response to Ambient Noise Informed by Technology and Ecology (read this blog to learn more). This project is one of the GEMM lab’s long-running gray whale projects focused on studying gray whale behavior, physiology, and health to understand how whales respond to ocean noise. Given the many questions under this project, it takes a team of researchers to accomplish our goals. I have learned so much from being on the team. While we spend most of the year working on our own components, we have annual meetings that are always a highlight of the year. Our team is made up of ecologists, physiologists, and statisticians with backgrounds across a range of taxa and methodologies. These meetings are an incredible time to watch, and participate in, scientific collaboration in action. I have learned so much from watching experts critically think about questions and draw inspiration from their knowledge bases. It’s been a multi-year masterclass and a critically important piece of my PhD. 

The GRANITE team during our first in person meeting

These annual meetings have also served as markers of the passage of time. It’s been fascinating to observe how our discussions, questions, and ideas have evolved as the project progressed. In the early years, our presentations shared proposed research and our conversations focused on working out how on earth we were going to tackle the big questions we were posing. In parallel, it was so helpful to work out how I was going to accomplish my proposed PhD questions as part of this larger group effort. During the middle years, it was fun to hear progress updates and to learn from watching others go through their process too. In grad school, it’s easy to feel like your setbacks and stumbles are failures that reflect your own incompetence, but working alongside and learning from these scientists has helped remind me that setbacks and stumbles are just part of the process. Now, in the final phase, as results abound, it feels extra exciting to celebrate with this team that has watched the work, and me grow, from the beginning. 

The GRANITE team taking a beach walk after our second in person meeting.

We just wrapped up our last team meeting of the GRANITE project, and this year provided a learning experience in a phase of science that isn’t often emphasized in grad school. For graduate students, our work tends to end when we graduate. While we certainly think about follow-up questions to our studies, we rarely get the opportunity to follow through. In our final exams, we are often asked to think of next steps outside the constraints of funding or practicality, as a critical thinking exercise. But it’s a different skillset to dream up follow-up questions, and to then assess which of those questions are feasible and could come together to form a proposal. This last meeting felt like a cool full-story moment. From our earliest meetings determining how to answer our new questions, to now deciding what the next new questions are, I have learned countless lessons from watching this team operate. 

The GRANITE team after our third in person meeting.

There are a few overarching lessons I’ll take with me. First and foremost, the value of patience and kindness. As a young scientist stumbling up the learning curve of many skills all at once, I am so grateful for the patience and kindness I’ve been shown. Second, to keep an open mind and to draw inspiration from anything and everything. Studying whales is hard, and we often need to take ideas from studies on other animals. Which brings me to my third takeaway, to collaborate with scientists from a wide range of backgrounds who can combine their knowledges bases with yours, to generate better research questions and approaches to answering them.

I am so grateful to have worked with this team during my final sprint to the finish. Despite the pressure of the end nearing, I’m enjoying moments to reflect and be grateful. I am grateful for my teachers and peers and friends. And I can’t wait to share this project with everyone.

P.S. Interested in tuning into my defense seminar? Keep an eye on the GEMM lab Instagram (@gemm_lab) for the details and zoom link.

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First Flight

By Lindsay Wickman, Postdoc, OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab

I’ve had the privilege of attending several marine mammal surveys aboard ships at sea, but I had never surveyed for marine mammals from the air. So, when given the opportunity to participate in ongoing aerial surveys off the Oregon Coast with the US Coastguard’s helicopter fleet, I enthusiastically said yes. As Craig Hayslip, a Faculty Research Assistant with the Marine Mammal Institute, prepared me for my first helicopter survey, I was all excitement and no nerves. That is, until he explained the seating arrangement.

“There are two types of helicopters you’ll be flying on, and because of the seating arrangement in the Jayhawk, we fly with the door open when surveying for whales – it’s the only way to get a sufficient view,” Craig casually explained. I stared at the iPad I would use for recording data and imagined it flying through that open door and toward the sea, while I looked on flustered and helpless. Sensing my worry, Craig quickly showed me a set of straps that attached to the iPad, so it could be secured to one of my legs.

In addition to ensuring the iPad stayed in the aircraft, the straps also meant my hands would still be free to handle the camera (to aid in species identification), and a small tool called a geometer (developed by Pi Techology). By lining up the whale sighting in the sight of the geometer, the observer can record the angle between the aircraft and the sighting. Since we also know the height of the helicopter (we fly at a constant altitude of 500 feet), this angle can be used to calculate horizontal distance from the aircraft, allowing an accurate location to be estimated for each sighting.

My first flight was from Warrenton, Oregon, a four-hour drive north from the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. Once at the airport, our first stop was to head to the flight operations office (a.k.a. “Ops”), who set us up with proper clothing and headgear for the flight. As we checked in, rock music played on a speaker while uniformed Coast Guardsmen serviced a helicopter in the hangar. I started to feel like a cool insider, until I clumsily donned the canvas flight suit and tried on several helmets. Suddenly several pounds heavier, all my movements became very awkward.

Lindsay outside the hangar wearing flight gear, in front of the survey’s helicopter. Photo by Craig Hayslip.

After my safety briefing, the entire crew gathered for a pre-flight meeting. We discussed weather conditions, did a wellness check, and discussed the flight’s mission. The conversation also included a brief overview of our scientific aims – why exactly were we looking for whales?

Craig briefly described the research project we were contributing to, titled Overlap Predictions About Large whales (OPAL). The main goal of this project is to better understand the overlap between whales and fisheries, with the aim of reducing entanglement risk. Fishing methods that use fixed, vertical lines in the water column, like the Dungeness crab fishery, can entangle whales as they migrate and feed along Oregon’s coastline. Since reports of whale entanglements have increased on the West Coast in the last 10 years, managing this threat is essential to ensure both the health of whale populations and the stability of Oregon’s crab fishery. Preventing these entanglements requires an understanding of where whales are distributed along the coast, as well as the times of year overlap with fisheries is most likely to occur. The OPAL project isn’t just mapping whale sightings, though. By using models to correlate whale sightings with oceanographic conditions, OPAL is also aiming to predict where whales are likely to occur.

After explaining the mission, the crew had to reach a consensus on both the level of “risk” in the mission and its level of “gain.” For a whale survey flight, risk was deemed low, with medium gain. While I initially felt mild offence that our scientific work was deemed to have just “medium” gain, I quickly reminded myself that when the crew is not flying scientists around, they are literally saving human lives. It was also a reminder that our whale surveys could easily be interrupted if necessary – Craig had mentioned several instances where flights were diverted to assist in rescue or medical emergencies.

With the briefing over, each of us had to consent to the flight plan by saying, “I accept this mission.” I’d heard this phrase from secret agents and soldiers in movies, but never from a marine scientist. I felt out of place saying them at first, but the words undeniably helped me establish a self-assured confidence I would give the survey my 100%.

Finally, it was time to head out of the hangar and to the aircraft. With both a pair of earplugs and my flight helmet on, the whirring of the blades was just a soft hum. I couldn’t hear speech, so we all relied on hand signals to communicate until our headsets were connected to the aircraft. The crew helped make sure I correctly put on my seatbelt harness, which had not just one, but five buckles. While I still felt some mild concern for the iPad strapped to my leg, at least I knew I wouldn’t fall out.

Preparing for takeoff. Photo by Craig Hayslip.
Lindsay holds up the geometer during the flight. Photo by Craig Hayslip.

Craig helped ensure I had all the equipment set up properly: the iPad’s survey program, the GPS tracking, and the computer recording the geometer’s measurements. Soon after, the helicopter slowly rose, hovering above the runway, before turning and heading towards the coast at speed. My stomach dropped slightly, my ears popped, and cold air rushed through the open door. I looked out at the Columbia River as it stretched toward the coastline and out to sea, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

A rainbow mid-air. Photo by Craig Hayslip.

As we approached the ocean, my attention shifted back to the mission, and I started scanning the surface for whale blows. With the large helmet on, I noticed the camera and geometer were much more difficult to use, so I also made “practice sightings” of passing boats and buoys. It didn’t take long before my first real whale sighting though – two gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus). Over the next two hours, I saw four more gray whales, and six more whales I was unable to identify due to distance. With each sighting, I had to act fast to make each geometer recording. The helicopter travels at a speed of 90 knots and whales can disappear soon after surfacing.

Two hours of flying with the door open meant my nose was running and my typing skills were worsening due to cold fingers. As exciting as it was to spot whales from the air, I was a little relieved when we arrived back at the airport and I could warm back up. Luckily, my nightmare of losing an iPad from the helicopter did not come true, and I was returning home with another survey to add to over 200 (and counting!) helicopter surveys completed for the OPAL project. Four different flights covering different parts of the Oregon coast are completed each month, so I know I have more flights to look forward to. After a successful first mission, I feel ready to take on my next flight.

The four flight routes completed monthly for the OPAL project. Helicopter flights are enabled through a partnership with the US Coastguard.

If you’d like to learn more about the OPAL research project, check out these past blog posts:

A Matter of Time: Adaptively Managing the Timescales of Ocean Change and Human Response

The pathway to advancing knowledge of rorqual whale distribution off Oregon

From land, sea,… and space: searching for whales in the vast ocean

The ups and downs of the ocean

Recent publications presenting findings from the first two years of OPAL include:

Derville, S., Barlow, D. R., Hayslip, C., & Torres, L. G. (2022). Seasonal, Annual, and Decadal Distribution of Three Rorqual Whale Species Relative to Dynamic Ocean Conditions Off Oregon, USA. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.868566

Derville, S., Buell, T. v., Corbett, K. C., Hayslip, C., & Torres, L. G. (2023). Exposure of whales to entanglement risk in Dungeness crab fishing gear in Oregon, USA, reveals distinctive spatio-temporal and climatic patterns. Biological Conservation, 281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.10998

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