I’m not usually one for mass Christmas greetings, but this one was too cool not to share!
These letters are spelled out using natural shapes found on brain corals in the Caribbean! A husband and wife team spent two years searching for all the letters of the alphabet, and created this pretty funky card as a result!
Happy holidays everyone!
A couple of weeks ago I had a very fun interview with James Borrell, a conservation biologist with a passion for science communication. Apart from studying the genetics of trees, James is also the founder of Discover Conservation – a website which aims to tell the stories of field scientists and, by doing so, inspire an appreciation for conservation in people around the world.
My interview with Discover Conservation discussed my PhD research on bottlenose and snubfin dolphins in Western Australia, but also touched on my “science story” and how I got where I am today. It finishes off with some of my advice for young conservationists, particularly those currently trying to find work experience.
Interested in more information? Read the full article here!
3MT Trans-Tasman 2014 Sarah Marley and Rosanna Stevens
“… Sarah Marley from Curtin University“
When I heard those words, my heart stopped. I did the “shocked-actress-wins-award” face. I hugged my friends sitting on either side. I repeatedly gasped “oh my goodness“. I may have even made a rather embarrassing Oscar-worthy acceptance speech. Now over a week later and I am still riding the high 🙂
View the talk below:
Now let’s back up a bit.
The 3-Minute-Thesis (3MT) competition was developed by the University of Queensland back in 2008. It was intended to be an exercise in communication for graduate students, giving them just three minutes to explain their PhD to a generalist audience. Since then, the competition has expanded to universities around the world.
I’ve known about this competition for a couple of years now, after seeing various friends compete to present their own PhD at other universities. I couldn’t wait to become a student myself and give it a go! So when Curtin University emailed around to announce that registration was open for the 2014 competition I immediately sat down, wrote my talk in 20mins, and started practicing!
The Curtin heats were a couple of months ago, where I surprised myself by not only making it through to the Curtin Final top ten but also by winning my heat. “A great start,” I thought. “Now back to fieldwork!” as I prepared for the second trip up to the Kimberleys. A few weeks later, I made the special one-night-only trip back from Broome to Perth for the Curtin Final, and won both the Final and the People’s Choice award! Certainly justified the trip down!
All the competitors from the 3MT Trans-Tasman 2014 competition at UWA
But the Trans-Tasman Competition was the hardest yet. I was competing with winners, so you can imagine that the standard of talks was extremely high! Most amazing of all was the team spirit – everyone was so nice to each other! After every presentation, the speaker would return to the “green room” amid cheers and high fives from their opposition 🙂 It was a great vibe!
Then it was time to give my talk…
Not a stutter in sight! Quite different to 4 yrs ago…
As I stepped on stage, I felt such a buzz. I love the work that I do, and the opportunity to talk about it always gets me excited! Quite a far cry from four years ago, when I could barely give a short talk to a group of friends without blushing and stuttering my way through the presentation. So I felt a certain glow of accomplishment at having enjoyed something that just a few years would have terrified me!
From a happy glow to radiating surprise, I was ecstatic to be chosen as winner of the 3MT – but the whole experience was a delight! From the thrill of presenting to the team spirit backstage to the happiness of making new friends, the whole 3MT journey has been a blast. If you ever have the opportunity to take part I would thoroughly encourage you to do so! Even if you’re not confident of your presenting skills, just ask yourself – when will you get a better opportunity to try?
But work on your potential acceptance speech beforehand, and practice your photo face:
Me laughing manically as I receive my giant novelty cheque from sponsor James Mercer. Sorry James…
Now all that is left is for me to thank my partner, my friends, my family, my university, the organisers, the sponsors, the judges, the competitors, the audience, the backstage staff, my high school science teacher, my pets…
Have you ever heard of a snubfin dolphin? Not many people have – and up until 2005, no one had at all.
Snubfin dolphins in Roebuck Bay (Photo Credit: Sarah Marley)
In that year, what was previously considered to be a bunch of Irrawaddy dolphins swimming around off the northern coast of Australia, was discovered to actually be a separate species entirely. And so snubfin dolphins became Australia’s first endemic species of cetacean. But now, almost ten years later, we still don’t know a whole lot about them.
As part of the Kimberley Marine Research Program, the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) is funding research into the distribution, abundance and genetic connectivity of Australian snubfin and humpback dolphins across the Kimberleys. This is a collaborative research project, involving scientists from Murdoch University, Curtin University and Australian National University. Through a mixture of visual observations from vessel-based surveys and acoustic monitoring using underwater noise loggers, the project hopes to improve our knowledge of where and when dolphins occur. It will also investigate the effectiveness of using noise loggers as an alternative technology for collecting data on distribution and seasonality of dolphins across the Kimberleys.
Listening for snubfin dolphins
During July and August this year, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the Roebuck Bay component of this project. My supervisor Chandra and I spent a few weeks working with Dr Deb Thiele (Australia National University) to collect visual and acoustic data on the snubfin dolphins of Roebuck Bay. It was a real pleasure to work with Deb, who has been conducting research in Roebuck Bay for several years on the abundance, habitat-use and behaviour of this snubfin dolphin population. We were also working in with local Yawuru Indigenous Rangers Cornell and Johani, who helped us on the boat to collect observational and photographic information on the dolphins. And to finish off our Snub-Team, we had Jason from Environs Kimberley who helped us navigate through the bay. The Kimberleys are a stunning place in general, but it was especially great to explore it with people who know the area (and its wildlife) so well!
Over five weeks, we spent a lot of time out on the water and became familiar with a whole host of Roebuck Bay’s other marine residents. Sightings of dugong, turtles, manta rays, sharks, sea birds, and various fish made every day unpredictable but very special!
Chandra, me and Deb.
I’ve been remarkably quiet the last wee while partly because I’ve been away on fieldwork. But also because it involved such amazing animals, cool people, and beautiful surroundings that I had no idea how to begin describing it! A large part of PhD life revolves around stress – the pressure of making progress, meeting deadlines, producing outcomes. But an important part of PhD life is to realise how lucky I am to have these experiences, travel to these places, and meet these people. And this trip was definitely one of those fortunate events.
Fifty-five is not a big number. But it could mean a world of difference to one small dolphin species in New Zealand.
Maui’s dolphin is the world’s rarest and smallest known subspecies of dolphin. Found only in New Zealand,they typically range close to the coast in small pods although they can also be found around harbour mouths and further offshore. But their numbers have been decreasing due to entanglement in fishing gear and disease, with approximately 4 to 5 Maui’s killed each year. Which doesn’t seem like too many, right?
A bit of maths
In the 1970s, the dolphin population was reportedly around 1,800 individuals. But the species has rapidly declined since net-setting and trawling were introduced in the 1970s. A 2012 research study estimated that only 55 Maui’s dolphins now remain. Suddenly that 4 to 5 death rate seems a lot bigger. So just since that study was conducted, we are probably already approaching a population size of around 40 animals. Extinction isn’t just a threat – it’s a very real likelihood.
If we are losing 10% of the population each year, you don’t have to be a mathematical genius to know that things aren’t looking good for the Maui’s. Especially given their slow reproduction rate – females reach maturity at approximately 8 years of age, and only have one calf every 2 – 4 years.
What is being done?
The New Zealand government generally has a pretty good standing when it comes to conservation. In 2003, a ban on commercial set nets was added to an existing ban on recreational netting from north of Auckland to north of Taranaki, covering out to four nautical miles from shore. In 2008, this was extended to seven nautical miles and in 2012 the ban on set nets extended further south. Last year, the Minister of Conservation finalised a Maui’s Dolphin Threat Management Plan, which includes codes of practice for seismic surveys, regulations for inshore boat racing, and the establishment of a Maui’s Dolphin Research Advisory Group.
So are things improving?
Debatable. Although various marine protected areas have been created with the aim of conserving Maui’s dolphins, the government has failed to extend protections to areas where there have been credible recent sightings of the animals. That’s the thing about marine mammal conservation – these are free-ranging animals who cover large areas in a dynamic habitat. Thus, the distribution of populations will change over time and so needs constant re-assessment if protected areas are to have a positive effect. But this is an investment the NZ government seems unwilling to make.
And despite several promising moves on the government’s part, it looks like money might win through in the end. This week, it has been reported by several news groups that the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary – home to the Maui’s dolphin – has been signed off for oil and gas exploration.
The NZ government signed off a block offer of sea and land in April, which includes a 3,000 square kilometre overlap into the sanctuary. Oil and gas development in this area could have a devastating impact on Maui’s habitat by increasing levels of underwater noise through seismic surveys, as well as putting the area at greater risk of oil spills.
The government has already had previous bungles with the block offer, with Simon Bridges, the Minister of Energy and Resources signing off New Zealand’s biggest forest park for drilling – despite having never heard of it. Not exactly reassuring that the government is taking conservation seriously.
In fact, politicians are arguing whether this is even an issue, and NZ Conservation Minister Nick Smith is insisting that there hasn’t been a single observation of a Maui’s dolphin in the proposed exploration area. So no need to worry.
But you have to wonder how hard they’ve looked?
What you can do
Numerous scientific and conservation groups have already called for the New Zealand government to take action to save the Maui’s dolphin. Just last week, the International Whaling Commission urged the government to do more to save the species, stating that it had “extreme concern” about the decline in Maui’s dolphins.
In a recent report, the IWC estimated that Maui’s will decline to just 10 adult breeding females in six years and become functionally extinct in less than 20 years – unless their full range is protected from gillnetting and trawling.
WWF have stepped up their “Last 55” campaign to save the Maui’s dolphin, urging parliament to announce permanent measures that remove fishing gear which kills dolphins and help affected fishermen adopt dolphin-friendly fishing methods. “Anything less will not give the species a fighting chance at survival.”
Support their campaign by signing the WWF online petition here. And hopefully we can convince the New Zealand government to stop faffing around and start taking effective steps to save the Maui’s dolphin.
Over the last few weeks, a small town in Canada has lived in fear of exploding whales.
Seriously.
A Whale of an Explosion
At the end of April, a dead blue whale washed up on the shore of Trout River, Newfoundland. Amid concerns it could be a shipping hazard if dragged out to see, locals were forced to leave the whale decomposing on the beach whilst local and federal authorities argued over who should deal with the remains.
The carcass then proceeded to expand to about twice its normal size due to bloating from methane gas, a normal by-product of decomposition. Unfortunately, there is only so far a bloated blue whale can stretch, leaving local residents on stand-by for a pretty big bang. Strange as it sounds this is a legitimate concern – last year a washed up sperm whale in the Faroe Islands exploded as a biologist attempted to dissect it (warning: video not for the faint-hearted).
Eventually, a team from the Royal Ontario Museum headed over to dismantle and remove the blue whale – a feat which took them almost a week.
A Sight to See (and Smell…)
Whale carcasses aren’t that great in general, regardless of their explosive potential. A few years ago in Scotland, I took my sister to see a washed up sperm whale at our local beach. We arrived at the car park and started walking. When we were 1km away, she sniffed a few times and asked “What’s that smell?”. It only got worse.
Dead sperm whale – winner of Aberdeen’s Top Tourism Attraction 2009.
But despite this, hundreds of people came to see it. The carpark was overflowing for days whilst people made the trek to see the spectacle because, dead or alive, it’s just not every day you see a sperm whale. People brought their kids (who poked it), dogs (who rolled in it), and cameras to remember the experience.
So, given the high number of marine mammals out there, why aren’t we constantly assaulted by the stink of washed-up whales? When they’re not washing up on our beaches and becoming a gruesome attraction, what happens to the remains of whales and other marine life? The answer: Whale Fall.
Whale Fall
Deep-sea zones are pretty special when it comes to food-chains. A lack of light means no plant life, which is generally the foundation of most food webs. Instead, the deep sea ecosystem consists mostly of scavengers, who are fed from above by a constant drizzle of organic particles and detritus known as ‘marine snow’.
But every so often, a really big particle falls in the form of a whale. And when this happens, the whole community turns up for a feast.
Recently, a deep-sea graveyard was discovered off the coast of Angola by remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) conducting oil and gas exploration. Consisting of a dead whale shark and four rays, this represented a surprisingly high concentration of deceased megafauna over a relativley small area. Scientists are now using this footage to compare the species composition of scavengers on the shark and ray carcasses to the scavenger species present on whale falls.
Ecosystems within ecosystems. A pretty cool example of how life goes on!
Two different projects came to fruition last week, neatly coming in time for my birthday! Not so sure about the ageing part, but it was definitely good timing on the research outcomes!
From listening for dolphins…
Earlier this month I spent a morning out on the river with the ‘Destination WA‘ TV crew, filming a short segment about the Swan River dolphins. We spent a lovely few hours out on the Swan River Trust boat Kwilana (Noongar for ‘dolphin’) whilst the team did interviews with myself, Delphine Chabanne (Murdoch University), Marnie Giroud (SRT), and Jennie Hunt (Dolphin Watch).
It was really interesting to see ‘behind the scenes’ for the filming process, especially given the great camaraderie of the TV crew!
… to interpreting blue whales!
Another project success last week was finding out that our paper “Non-song vocalizations of pygmy blue whales in Geographe Bay, Western Australia ” had been published online by the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America! This study used simultaneous land-based visual observations and underwater acoustic recordings to examine the communication of pygmy blue whales.
These animals are famed for their songs, made up of repeated patterns of notes. But in this study, we focused on the non-song sounds produced by pygmy blue whales and found six different vocalisations – five of which had never been described for this population before! Hopefully this will help inform passive-acoustic monitoring for the species.
And as for ‘Older and Wiser’?
Well, that remains to be seen! But entering 28 as a PhD Student, TV Star, and three-times Published Scientific Author isn’t a bad way to start 😉
Last week I was invited to talk at the latest Dolphin Watch training event. Not that I need much of an excuse to talk about dolphins in general, but the chance to help introduce 180 new recruits to the Swan River dolphins was definitely not to be missed!
Background: the Dolphin Watch project
The newest recruits of Dolphin Watch!
I’ve discussed the Dolphin Watch project in previous posts – but for those of you not in the know, Dolphin Watch is a citizen science project monitoring the dolphins inhabiting the Swan-Canning Riverpark. It is a partnership between the Swan River Trust (SRT), Curtin University and Murdoch University which was instigated in 2009 to learn more about the bottlenose dolphins residing in the Swan and Canning Rivers. Since this river system stretches for over 60km, it would be pretty tricky for the researchers to survey alone. But by creating a network of citizen scientists, we now have eyes throughout the river park!
Dolphin Watch volunteers are generally people who are regular river users – whether they are kayaking up the Canning, sailing through the Swan, or just walking along the river trails! And if they’re out by the river, then why not report the presence of dolphins? Of course, it is just as important to know which areas the dolphins are not being sighted in. This helps us to create a presence / absence map of dolphin sightings, and get a feel for what areas might be particularly important to this population.
Training Time!
Dr Chandra Salgado Kent explains the online monitoring form at Dolphin Watch training
Twice a year, Dolphin Watch runs training nights for new volunteers. They get to hear about the purpose of the project, monitoring river health, some background to the dolphins, and how to collect sightings information. Plus they pick up a pretty snazzy shirt and hat combo, not to mention a tote bag full of Swan River Trust goodies!
Wednesday 26th March was the first training session of 2014 down at Scitech. Speakers included Marnie Giroud (Program Manager of the SRT’s “River Guardians” program), Dr Kerry Trayler (Principle Scientists at SRT), my supervisor Dr Chandra Salgado Kent, and Piers Higgs (Director of Gaia Resources who developed the Dolphin Watch app). An amazing 180 new volunteers attending, bringing the total number of Dolphin Watchers to over 700 people! With only around 25 dolphins in the riverpark, we’ve got a pretty good chance of spotting them!
And now introducing…
My role was to discuss Dolphin Ecology. So, after a few minutes fighting with the tempremental microphone, I gave a run-down on some bottlenose dolphin life history, previous research, distribution and habitat-use, foraging ecology, and dolphin conservation. Half an hour just flew by! The question-time was pretty fun, with lots of good questions about dolphin behaviour 🙂
It was pretty strange being back in Scitech. Especially doing a presentation there that didn’t involve slime, liquid nitrogen, or a single explosion! I had quite a bit of nostalgia for the good old days of being an Outreach Science Presenter… But at the same time, it felt fantastic to stand up and talk about something that I really cared about. As much as I love setting myself on fire in the name of science, nothing beats talking about your own research! Although if you have any suggestions on how I can work a fireball into a talk on dolphin ecology, please email them through! 😉
Interested in Joining?
Our next training day will be in August 2014. If you’re keen on coming along, check out the Dolphin Watch website or shoot me an email for more information!
For the last ten weeks, I have been living two lives.
Life 1: Sarah Marley, field biologist. Commences dolphin surveillance at 0500 hours, ceases observations at 1830 hours. Spends spare time managing an ever-increasing network of volunteer dolphin spies (aka “dolphineers”) to conduct regular river monitoring at select top-secret sites. She moves as a shadow, elusive of social situations, needless of sleep, as she begins the task of data hoarding…
Life 2: Sarah Marley, regular PhD student. Comes into the office a few days a week, and spends time reading papers, learning Matlab, teaching undergrads, and tackling a never-ending flow of emails. Existing mostly on caffeine and to-do lists, she has a desk-drawer full of snacks and several types of tea. Collects dolphin-themed desk decor.
Neither sound too strenuous. But recently, co-existence of these roles has become slightly tricky…
Sometimes study can be a bit over-whale-ming…
Life 1 is highly volunteer-dependent. My fieldwork needs at least a team of three (including myself), so my schedule varies each week depending on volunteer availability. I have an amazing team of dedicated, lovely, wonderful volunteers. But – as I am trying to get out to each site 3 times per week – I inevitably have to spend a few hours trying to sign folk up to fill gaps. I live in constant fear of cancellations, and check my phone compulsively “just in case”.
Life 2 flows around the first; if I’m not in the field, I head to uni. But snatching office hours here and there can make it difficult to focus on larger tasks. As a result, when I make my weekly to-do list each Monday, I find myself re-writing the same few big jobs, along with a wave of new mini-tasks.
To try and combat this, I attended a time-management workshop last Friday. Which I was late for. But as a friend pointed out, I hadn’t attended the workshop yet so that was to be expected! The presenter quizzed us on our degree courses, study habits, and sleep patterns. She assured me that “you only need four hours sleep to survive, so you’ll finish your PhD in no time“. Funnily enough, this was not actually very reassuring.
Despite this we did pick up a few useful hints. This week I have drafted up a timetable of activities based on how long each task takes. Hopefully this will help me to use my time a bit more efficiently. My New Years Resolution of getting a minimum of 7hrs sleep was becoming sadly neglected, so I’m also trying to “shut off” when I come home to make sure I’m rested enough to blast through those to-do lists the following morning! The ability to say “no” is something I’m working on improving.
I think the biggest challenge is accepting that there is only a given amount of things I can accomplish during the fieldwork phase. This should only last a few more months, then there will be a seasonal down period, giving me plenty of time to tackle the desk-based stuff.
But I guess no one ever said being a Science Ninja was easy 😉
Over the last couple of months I have had a busy whirlwind of deploying noise loggers; learning how to program recording schedules and then process acoustic data; complete health and safety forms; obtain permits for area use; train volunteers for visual surveys; organise fieldwork shifts… and this is before the fieldwork has even started! But now it’s all underway and the data is coming in!
Eavesdropping on Dolphins…
Sylvia and Mal (CMST) head out into the Swan River to help deploy loggers
Back in November 2013, three noise loggers were deployed in the Swan River as part of my PhD project examining the acoustical and behavioural response of coastal dolphins to noisy environments. I have been lucky enough to have great support from the students and staff at CMST to help me with deployments. Now the first batch of acoustic data from this first logger deployment is in my office, ready for processing!
These noise loggers record underwater sound produced by ambient (wind, waves), biological (dolphins, fish, crustaceans), and human sources (vessels, traffic, and construction). For more info on these noise loggers, see my previous post on recording whale sounds in Albany. Whilst I am examining this first acoustic data batch, the noise loggers have been moved to new locations and are busy recording more underwater sounds.
Over the next year, I will be deploying noise loggers at several spots throughout the river. I can then use these data to describe the underwater soundscape of the Swan River and examine the vocal behaviour of bottlenose dolphins.
… Whilst Watching from Above!
Visual observations of dolphin behaviour began in January 2014. I am conducting visual surveys at various vantage points along the shoreline, using a theodolite to record dolphin movements and behaviours in the river. This visual information can then be used to understand the context of dolphin sounds and their use of the underwater acoustic environment.
A theodolite is traditionally a surveying instrument, used to create 3D models of the landscape. It does this by selecting different points, then measuring the horizontal and vertical angles to give an exact bearing and distance to each point; this creates a scale map of the area. But we can also use this technique to get the position of objects out at sea – such as dolphins! So we can use a theodolite to map a dolphin’s position each time it surfaces, giving a very fine-scale track of how the animals are using an area. The added bonus being that the dolphins are not aware of our presence, so we do not have to worry about disturbing the animals and influencing their behaviour. Although I do often wonder if they have a “feeling of being watched”…
Volunteers Elly and Bec join me (and theo) surveying for dolphins in the Swan River
To run these visual surveys, I require a theodolite team: one person entering data on the computer, one collecting positions using the theodolite, and some others to find the dolphins! Thankfully, I have had an overwhelming amount of support from my ex-students (and some marine biologist friends), and currently have around 25 volunteers donating their time to help out in the field. Many are studying or working full-time, making their contributions all the more amazing and appreciated!
Dr Sarah Marley 