Marine Mammal Research

 

Dr. Joanne Hall, of the UNCW Geology and Geography faculty, has done research in the Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Bottlenose Dolphin.

 

Dr. Ann Pabst, Biology and Marine Biology, along with her students and colleagues, focus much of their work on musculoskeletal design and thermoregulatory function in cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). They utilize stranded marine mammals in their research, and employ quantitative morphology techniques, image analysis, and new tools emerging from the field of biomechanics, to pose hypotheses about animal function.

 

Dr. Laela S. Sayigh, Biology and Marine Biology, is currently focusing on the development and functions of signature whistles in free-ranging bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus.

 

Dr. Marcel van Tuinen, Biology and Marine Biology, research involves using phylogeographic and ancient DNA techniques in population genetics of birds and mammals.

 

Marine Mammal Stranding Program educates students through their participation in marine mammal stranding investigations.

 

Mammalian Systematics and Evolution Research discover how organisms are related, they answer questions about the causes and rates of evolutionary change, they identify unique populations that may be endangered or threatened, and they sometimes discover new taxa that are unknown to science.

 

Physiological Ecology of Marine Mammals and Turtles utilize stranded marine mammals in our research, and employ quantitative morphology techniques, image analysis, and new tools emerging from the field of biomechanics and lipid biochemistry, to pose hypotheses about animal function.

 

UNCW/Jamie Moncrief