Science on Tap: From Healthy Whales to Healthy Oceans

Baleen whales are some of the largest animals that have ever existed on our planet. They have enormous energetic needs that can only be satisfied by feeding on large schools of dense prey that are patchily distributed in the oceans. Using a suite of emerging technologies we have developed new tools that allow us to better estimate how much baleen whales consume and how this then leads to baleen whales acting as ecosystem engineers by recycling critical nutrients that stimulate primary productivity. Thus, given their energetic needs, the presence of whales reflects a healthy and functioning marine ecosystem that is in past sustained by the recycling of nutrients that whales produce. In this lecture, I will share our path to studying the underwater behavior of whales and how this has led us to better understand the ecological role of whales in ocean ecosystems.

This event was originally scheduled for March 27, 2024