Biology seminar - Paul Wensveen

This seminar is open to all!

Date and Time: Friday May 17th at 12:30 to 13:30 at N-131.

Dr. Paul Wensveen, Research Specialist at University of Iceland Research Centre in Vestmannaeyjar, will present:

Movements and dive behaviour of northern bottlenose whales in the eastern North Atlantic

The northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus; andarnefja in Icelandic) is a North-Atlantic deep-diving odontocete with a large geographical range, most often found offshore in the arctic and subarctic. They were historically heavily whaled in the northeast Atlantic, and there are now few sightings in historic whaling grounds off Svalbard and mainland Norway. It was long believed based on whaling data that most individuals in the Nordic Seas migrated to lower latitudes in summer, where they spend the autumn and winter before returning north in spring. Later, however, analyses of squid beaks in the stomachs of stranded individuals and lower latitude sighting patterns refuted this hypothesis. The research project HYPMO uses a combination of methods including passive acoustics and satellite tagging to investigate the movements and behaviour of Hyperoodon in the northeast Atlantic. I will first provide a brief overview of the project and its activities and then present our recent findings from satellite tags deployed in the north of Iceland and Jan Mayen. The data suggest that this population spends most of their time feeding in the Nordic Seas but periodically visit warmer, low-latitude waters for brief periods in summer, potentially during fast roundtrips for physiological maintenance.

Join the seminar in N-131 or on Zoom:

https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/66901174571 

Meeting ID: 669 0117 4571