The Mammal Society Autumn Symposium was held in London on 3rd November 2017 bringing together nearly 100 delegates and speakers to discuss “Advances in marine mammal science to support conservation”.
The symposium highlighted technological advances that have been made to support research on marine mammals. Topics of the day included anthropogenic disturbances on cetaceans such as vessels, noise and pollutants, cultural adaptions cetaceans have made and changes in population and distribution. The full programme for the day can be found here.
The Natural Selection Podcast, which is run by post-graduate students at The University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation spoke to some of our speakers on the day and have put together this great podcast discussing some of the outcomes of the symposium.
Links to the research profile of our speakers and a small selection of the presentations made on the day are available to download below.
Peter Evans
Bangor University, Sea Watch Foundation. Marine mammal research informing policy.
Please email info@themammalsociety.org for a copy of Peter’s presentation.
Peter Tyack
University of St Andrews. How behavioural response studies can be used to manage behavioural effects of noise on marine mammals.
Danuta Wisniewska
Stanford University, California. Do vessels disturb harbour porpoises?
Monica Arso Civil
University of St Andrews. The Harbour Seal Decline Project: investigating the decline in harbour seal numbers around regions of Scotland.
ArsoCivil Presentation
James Waggitt
Bangor University. Understanding and predicting European marine mammal distributions at seasonal and decadal scales.
Please email info@themammalsociety.org for a copy of James’s presentation.
Luke Rendell
University of St Andrews. Why do new understandings of the cultural lives of cetaceans matter for conservation?
Rendall Presentation
David Lusseau
University of Aberdeen. How do cetacean’s adaptations to life in water affect their ability to live alongside humans?
Sinead Murphy
Galway Marine Institute of Technology, Ireland. Reproductive health of cetaceans in UK waters: Are legacy pollutants still a cause for concern?
