IRELAND 2018 BLOG POSTS
IRELAND 2017 BLOG POSTS
BOWELS AND MOVEMENTS
It’s a classic scene: a majestic humpback whale breaches, thrusting its mass into the air. Its pectoral fins wave as it turns to land with a splash. It disappears to the depths before resurfacing, exhaling a spout of steam from its blowhole. We watch in awe, but there’s something missing in this description that may detract from the animal’s elegance....
APEX PREDATORS: ECOSYSTEM REGULATORS
Apex predators, or organisms at the top of the food chain, are a prominent example of how animal movement can significantly impact the health of an ecosystem. These predators hunt to remove diseased or weak individuals from the habitat. They also ensure that prey populations do not exceed a level that can be sustained by the ecosystem. Scientifically, this is known as “top-down trophic regulation” (trophic levels refer to levels of the food chain)....
CONSERVATION AND HIGHLY MIGRATORY MARINE ORGANISMS
Overfishing has already reduced marine predator populations worldwide. This has become such an area of concern that in 2015, the National Research Council (USA) identified the role of apex predators as an area of scientific focus for the next decade (Myers et al., 2007). To conserve these organisms, we certainly must understand where they are. First, however, we must determine how they move.
BIOTELEMETRY AND MEASURING ANIMAL MOVEMENT
Many marine species can be difficult to study, as they remain hidden from the human eye during significant components of their life cycle. Behavioral studies in particular have thus been heavily skewed toward organisms that we can observe for long...
WHY MOVEMENT?
For any mobile organism, movement is one of the most informative behaviors that we can study. Particularly in the underwater environment, where observation may be limited, movement is often the only behavior that we can consistently examine. Understanding how and why an...
