Newfoundland
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The study site where I did my undergraduate Honours research (BSc) and am continuing my Masters (MSc) work is located off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. In this area, capelin (Mallotus villosus) are the main forage fish, consumed by a wide variety of predators. The Davoren Lab has been traveling to this study site every summer since 2001 and has gathered vast amounts of information on capelin spawning behaviour and habitat selection as well as interactions between capelin and many predator species.
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Most years, the capelin migrate inshore to spawn at beach and demersal (deeper water) sites, which creates a biological hotspot where both breeding and non-breeding seabirds and baleen whales (particularly humpback whales, but also minke and some fin whales) come to feed.
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Humpback whales have not been studied much in this area since the early 90s despite high numbers of individuals using it as an important foraging ground every year. My focus is on the vocalizations that humpback whales make while using the study area to feed. Using a bottom-mounted hydrophone, we have collected 3 years of acoustic data (July-August of 2015-2017) and are working to create a catalogue of the sound types, something I started in my undergrad. While I continue to work on the catalogue, I also want to see how these calls differ from other areas and start looking at calling behaviour (rate, variation throughout a day or season) and other behaviours that are concurrent with calling.
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In addition, another Masters student in the Davoren Lab, Kelsey Johnson (see more about her research on the Davoren Lab website, linked on my contact page), has begun biopsying whales to try to determine once and for all what they are eating (even though it has been suspected for a long time that it's capelin). She also led a crew to deploy a multi-sensor tag on a humpback whale during August, 2017 and is looking at 3-D underwater movements and video during foraging, which is information that will combine with my acoustic work to look further into foraging behaviour and call function.