Marine Mammal Ecology Laboratory

09/04/2024

So proud of you, Janis!

08/26/2024

Congratulations to Dr. Jessica Cardé who completed her PhD last year in our lab, and who will start as a postdoctoral researcher with us for the next two years! Jessica received a prestigious fellowship from the National Science Foundation to investigate the natural and anthropogenic drivers of habitat use of bottlenose dolphins in Biscayne Bay.

07/27/2024

Our lab just completed 2 weeks of fieldwork in the French Antilles (Guadeloupe) for the second edition of the Global FinPrint project led by Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium. We deployed baited remote underwater cameras (BRUVS) to assess reef shark and other fish abundance in different Marine Protected Areas. What a fantastic partnership with Kap Natirel, entre Terre & Mer Réserve naturelle nationale des îles de la Petite-Terre and Parc national de la Guadeloupe it was fun! Lots of critters, including on land…

03/10/2024

Our lab just completed a new field season in collaboration with the Laura May-Collado lab (with rising star graduate student Maia Austin) on the abundance, ecology and behavior of Guiana dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) in Costa Rica. What a productive season with fun and outstanding friends and colleagues! Thank you so much to all of you, including guest star Richard Connor who tagged along this year (one of the most fun and inspiring scientists in our field). Can’t wait to be in October for our second trip of the year!

09/29/2023

New paper out for our lab in collaboration with the Fisheries and Ecosystem Assessment Lab (led by former PhD student Matt Woodstock)! How do cetaceans affect ecosystem dynamics? Cetaceans contribute to nutrient movements and recycling and provide one of the few sources of nutrients for primary producers in the Gulf of Mexico: https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lno.12433

08/31/2023

Congratulations, Dr Cardé!!! Yesterday our very own Jessica successfully defended her PhD thesis on the ecology and behavior of bottlenose dolphins in Biscayne Bay. She is also the very first student to graduate in our lab! Jessica Carde

06/03/2023

10/25/2022

Our paper on the trophic interactions of common and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins off the eastern cost of South Africa is out! Congrats to our great lead Michelle Caputo!! It was great t collaborate with you all on this one! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014111362200229X?dgcid=coauthor

08/26/2022

Interested in wildlife conservation, then this opportunity is for you! Our National Science Foundation (NSF) funded IRES (International Research Experience for. Students) program focusses on wildlife research, management and conservation in the Caribbean. More information here https://tci.fiu.edu/opportunities/ires/index.html
FIU Institute of Environment

07/09/2022

Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) bow riding during our research expedition in the bay of Biscay, off France last month. Glassy waters and plenty of dolphins… what else would you need?

05/21/2022

Leaving St Vincent and the Grenadines after 3 weeks of research, training and collaboration to work on cetaceans. So proud of my students and team, thanks so much for being so amazing! My crew will stay for another 3 weeks and I will return to Florida for a week, before heading for more field work in France to work on cetaceans in the Bay of Biscay!

05/11/2022

Already 10 days that we have been in St Vincent and the Grenadines for our funded research program on cetaceans in collaboration with the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture. Great sightings, lots of surprises, and happy students! We are getting a lot done: over the next few weeks, we will pursue our boat-based surveys, start interview surveys, and train local assistants to collect data and samples. Stay tuned!!

09/18/2021

Another fantastic day on the water to study biscayne bay bottlenose dolphins and their prey. Photos taken under NOAA permit

08/02/2021

New paper (with the best title ever): Lord of the Rings: mud ring feeding by bottlenose dolphins in the Caribbean revealed from sea, air and space published in Marine Mammal Science led by superstar PhD candidate Eric Angel Ramos with Nataly Castelblanco Martínez Zoe Walker Santoya Verde Jeremy Kiszka Guillaume Rieucau http://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12854

07/25/2021

Another amazing day on the water in Biscayne Bay working with bottlenose dolphins and watching their extraordinary abilities to catch 🐟. Photo taken under NMFS permit #24045

05/01/2021

Happy to share some of our work on cetacean ecology and conservation in the Eastern Caribbean (St Vincent and the Grenadines), where we have been involved in research since 2018. Check out some of our latest papers (open access):

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.668597/full

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.648421/full

03/12/2021

Our new paper on the feeding behavior of killer whales in the Mozambique Channel (SW Indian Ocean, Mayotte) led by Maeva Terrapon is out in Aquatic Mammals Journal https://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2124:observations-of-killer-whale-orcinus-orca-feeding-behavior-in-the-tropical-waters-of-the-northern-mozambique-channel-island-of-mayotte-southwest-indian-ocean&catid=200&Itemid=326

03/06/2021

Back on the water to resume the monitoring of bottlenose dolphins in biscayne bay in collaboration with NOAA (photo taken under a NOAA permit). A gorgeous day in Miami with a group of 10 including 4 calves!

01/15/2021

Whale meat consumption in the Caribbean: a potential risk for public health? Our latest paper was just published (picture: R. Fielding) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10807039.2020.1870865

11/21/2020

You said sea cucumber? Yes! Well, I never thought we would ever be involved in a sea cucumber project one day, but here is the result of it! Please check it out, just published in ICES Journal of Marine Science https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsaa161

09/13/2020

You can order this print at
https://www.redbubble.com/people/tostoini/shop

08/09/2020

Our first lab meeting ever! Of course it was a remote... After a year of existence our lab now has two postdoctoral scientists and four graduate students. We are all super excited about this new academic year!

07/22/2020

Incredibly thankful to be part of this huge collective effort at the global scale. Here is our paper on the global status of reef sharks around the globe Global FinPrint https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2519-y

07/08/2020

Please join my colleague Dr. Jenny Litz (NOAA) and I tomorrow at 4:00pm (East coast time) for this webinar on dolphin research and conservation in South Florida and beyond organized by the City of Miami Beach. Register here http://www.mbrisingabove.com/your-home/sustainachella/

05/19/2020

A few dolphin pictures from our work in the Caribbean... but not from this year obviously 😕 But we will back... soon! Stay safe!

04/24/2020

New collaborative paper involving our lab: modeling the distribution of harbor porpoises in the southern North Sea. This is where our Principal Investigator Dr. Jeremy Kiszka started working with marine mammals... during his high school years! https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-marine-biological-association-of-the-united-kingdom/article/modelling-finescale-distribution-and-relative-abundance-of-harbour-porpoises-in-the-southern-bight-of-the-north-sea-using-platformofopportunity-data/840BE81EA1EA7DE398340521A985A428

04/20/2020

04/14/2020

Welcome to our newest PhD student Aarin Allen! Aarin is joining our lab to start his PhD on the ecological roles of manatees in aquatic ecosystems. Aarin has experience with manatees in Florida and the Caribbean and we are very excited to have him!

03/18/2020

Thanks Global FinPrint for your support! Here is some of the work we completed with Heithaus Research Lab and our collaborators Madagascar MADA Megafauna

Sampling thanks to Paul G. Allen Philanthropies, Florida International University, Les Baleines Rand'eau, Curtin University, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

02/19/2020

Welcome to our two new PhD students Ashley Cook and Enrico Corsi! Ashley and Enrico will join our lab for great projects on the behavioral ecology, acoustics, and social structure of cetaceans. So excited to have you joining us this Fall!