Biennial Conference on Marine Mammals 2024

We participated in or led a dozen presentations during the 25th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals hosted by the Society for Marine Mammalogy, the largest global organization of individuals interested in marine mammal research and conservation. The conference, which took place in Perth, Australia, in November 2024, focused on “Culture and Conservation: Fishing for Change,” which aimed to capture the topical areas of studying marine mammal cultures and consideration of both human and animal cultures in conservation and management.

Thanks to back-to-back hurricanes, Director Randy Wells wasn’t able to attend this year’s conference in person; instead, he sent a video presentation focused on disentanglements of dolphins and how and when interventions are made. “Small Cetacean Entanglements: Changing Knotty to Nice” was co-authored by Aaron Barleycorn, SDRP Field Manager. Page down to watch.

SDRP Staff Presentations at the 25th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals

Click here for the conference abstract book

• The influence of human-centric foraging tactics on the social structure and cohesion of bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Florida. Bankhead, K., K. McHugh, R. Wells, and M. Cantor. (oral presentation)
• Exploring health status of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) using epigenetics. Barratclough, A., R. Takeshita, L. Thomas, P. Rosel, T. Photopoulou, E. Pirotta, L. Wilcox, N. Vollmer, R. Wells, G. Himes Boor, C. Smith, F. Gomez, T. Rowles, and L. Schwacke. (oral presentation)
• Citizen Science helps document a rare occurrence behavior of killer whale predation on an oceanic manta ray in the Galapagos Islands. Bassos-Hull, K., D. Alarcón-Ruales, S. Diaz, A. Knochel, M. Guererro, F. Hamdan, K. Fuentes, K.A. Wilkinson, D. Pazmiño. (poster)
• ‘Urine’ the clear… or not. Uncovering linkages between phthalate exposure and health in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from Sarasota Bay, FL (1993-2023). Dziobak, M., R. Wells, C. Toms, R. F. Allen, A. Moors, and L. Hart. (oral presentation)
• Life in plastic is not fantastic: What we are learning from our long-term study of plastic and plasticizer exposure in bottlenose dolphins inhabiting Sarasota Bay, FL, USA. Hart, L., M. K. Dziobak, R. S. Wells, J. Weinstein, A. Moors, J. B. Allen, R. F. Allen, E. Conger, T. Curtin, A. Fahlman, A. Gaur, A. Gray, M. Knight, E. Berens McCabe, and C. Toms. (oral presentation)
• Early-life social adversity leads to lower social connectivity and reduced reproductive success in male bottlenose dolphins. Holmes, K.G., M. Krützen, S.J. Allen, R.C. Connor, and S.L. King. (oral presentation)
• Evaluating tradeoffs between automation and bias in population assessments relying on photo-identification. Patton, P., … J. Allen, … R. Wells, … with 50 more co-authors. (oral presentation)
• First validation of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) fatty acid calibration coefficients and its implications for quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) in cetaceans. Tatom-Naecker, T-A., C. Parry, D. Costa, and R. Wells. (oral presentation)
• Tag attachment procedures for dolphins. Dolphin Entanglement Workshop. Wells, R. S. (recorded presentation)
•  Small cetacean disentanglements: Changing knotty to nice. Dolphin Entanglement Workshop. Wells, R. S. and A. Barleycorn. (recorded presentation)
• Dolphins over the West Florida Shelf: Ranging patterns, habitat use, and health. Wells, R.S., A.A. Barleycorn, J.B. Allen, K.A. Wilkinson, M.A. Kratofil, J.N. Langan, M.T. Walsh, F.H. Jensen, F.M. Gomez, J.M. Meegan, B. Linnehan, M. Moore, and A. Fahlman. (poster presentation)
• The curious case of “Squirt”: Shark bite resulting in a urethral obstruction and urinary tract-body wall fistula in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Sarasota Bay, Florida. Wilkinson, K.A., J.N. Langan, J.M. Meegan, C.N. Toms, R. Faulkner Allen, J. Sweeney, D.A. Fauquier, J.J. Kiszka, E.T. Hostnik, A. Barratclough, M.T. Walsh, and R.S. Wells. (oral speed-talk presentation)