Casey and the Walruses

I recently realized that my blog's title is a little outdated, though I suppose my scope was a little narrow to begin with.  Casey and the Marine Mammals doesn't have the same ring to it.  Casey and the Marine Ecological Studies?  I don't think so.  The URL would have been much too long.

It bears mentioning at this point that my whale days are not quite over, as I am still working on publishing my manuscript from my MS thesis.  It has been a long and arduous process, which has definitely motivated me to write my PhD chapters in manuscript form.  I never would have guessed it would be so difficult to pare a thesis chapter down into a clear, succinct paper.  In light of these difficulties, I am happy to announce that a little side-project that developed in conjunction with my master's project was recently published in Marine Mammal Science:

Check it out here!

Thanks to Liz Vu and all our awesome collaborators for getting that one to press.  It's fun when science works the way it's supposed to.  In celebration, here's a picture of some humpbacks enjoying the crystal clear tropical waters of Hawaii.

I wish I could say I was doing the same, but I am definitely not.  Still dark and cold here in Fairbanks, but after today it will only be getting brighter!  Happy winter solstice everyone!

The Story of My PhD

So you may be wondering how a marine mammal biologist can be undertaking a PhD project in which there is all likelihood that he will never see his study species.  I must admit, I've asked myself that question once or twice over the past 6 months, but really the answer is quite simple.  My doctoral work is primarily concerned with animals that are already dead, be it for one year, 50 years, or 2000 years.  Here's the run down:

My dissertation is part of a larger project called, unsurprisingly, WALRUS, a large-scale collaborative project aimed at understanding the impacts of changing climates on Pacific walruses.  By investigating how historic (and prehistoric) changes in climate impacted walruses, we hope to gain a better understanding of the effects current and future climate change on today's Pacific walrus population.  To this end, we are using samples from modern (stranded dead or subsistence harvested by Native Alaskans), historic (housed in museum collections), and prehistoric (recovered during archaeological digs) walruses to study how their migratory movements, feeding behaviors, genetic diversity, demographics, and even stress levels have changed over the past 2,500 years.  The impetus behind this work comes from changes in walrus behavior observed in recent years, namely the hauling-out of thousands of walruses on land, which have garnered a lot of recent media attention through stunning photos like this one:

Source: Chukot-TINRO

These haul-out events are thought to be the result of a lack of available sea ice habitat, and can lead to overcrowding, trampling of smaller animals, over-exploitation of food resources in a localized area, and increased sensitivity to disturbance by humans and/or land predators.  As a result, scientists, wildlife managers, and conservation groups have become concerned about the health of Pacific walrus populations.  The WALRUS project is designed to provide these groups with a better understanding of just how adaptable Pacific walruses are to changing climates and will hopefully give us an indication of just how dire the current circumstances are for walruses today.

My specific niche within this larger-scale project is yet to be determined, but it safe to say at this point that there will be plenty of work for me to do over the next 3+ years.  Maybe this time I'll do a better job of keeping you, my loyal readers, updated on my progress.

Updating the Update

Hi again,

My last post was brief, to the point, and left much in the way off cliff-hangers, so I'm back to resolve some of those burning questions I'm sure you are asking.  Did he say walrus?

That would be a resounding yes.  The handsome fellow above is a member of my newest study species the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens).  Translated into English that comes roughly to "the animal that split off from the tooth walking horse of the sea."  Makes perfect sense, right?  Well, when you break it down, it does.  "Odo" means "tooth" in Latin, while "benus" means "walk" or "walker."  Walruses (and that is the correct pluralization, sadly, not "walri") were given this name because of the tendency of the males to use their protruding tusks to help haul themselves out of the water and onto the sea ice.  "Rosmarus" has its roots in ancient Norse, meaning "horse of the sea."  Finally, the subspecies designator at the end of the name, "divergens," indicates that the Pacific walrus broke off, or diverged, from the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) some time in their evolutionary history.

Now the catch here is this: despite the fact that I am beginning a PhD focusing entirely on walruses, I may or may not get to see a living walrus during the course of the project.  How's that for another cliff-hanger?  That's how I keep my readers coming back for more.

More details next time!

Casey

Reviving the revival?

Ok, ok, so it's been over a year since my post about my intention to "revive" this blog and I've posted virtually nothing.  I guess blogging consistency isn't my strong suit.

The good news is that with all the time that has elapsed, I have all kinds of exciting new updates!  I finished my M.Sc., I started a Ph.D., I moved to Alaska, it's dark and cold!  More on this soon, but realistically if you're interested and want a more reliable view of life in Alaska, check out my boyfriend Mike's photoblog: Life @ Home

And just for the fun of it, here's a throwback to the good old days of chasing whales around Monterey Bay:

Photo Credit: Scott Gabara

The Land (Sea?) of Plenty

Last May (2012) we had nice period of strong northerly winds, triggering a strong episode of coastal upwelling.  The result was plentiful nutrients and a lot of food to be found throughout the bay.  Surface swarms of krill were plentiful, and the whales were happy.  Below are some photos of humpbacks enjoying the plentiful food, as they perform feeding lunges through surface swarms of krill.  Enjoy!

A pair of whales lunge feeding side by side

You can see all of the krill jumping in an effort to avoid being eaten

A good view of the baleen (the brown bristly material) on the upper jaw

A few photos from the field

Shining flukes on a flat day on Monterey Bay

A very nice fluke shot (note the distinctive damage to the right side of the trailing edge)

Getting playful: pectoral (pec) fin slapping take one

Pec slapping take two

A long hiatus

It's funny how something like graduate school can take time away from other activities, such as keeping a blog about graduate school. I am writing this quick update to let it be known that I am intending to revive this page in some shape or form in the near future. In the short term, I will likely be posting some photos from my fieldwork and maybe a few of the most memorable experiences. For the more extended outlook, I plan to expand the scope of this blog from just a side-along accompaniment to my MS thesis to a chronicle of my adventures, past, present, and future.

For all my waxing poetic, I don't have a very good track record. We'll see how I do.

Bear with me,

Casey