IMS Faculty Candidate Seminar: Aaron Rice

UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences presents a seminar by Aaron Rice, Ph.D.. This event is scheduled for Thursday, April 4th, at 10:00 am in room 222 at the Institute of Marine Sciences. This seminar will also be broadcast live to both room 3204 on the 3rd floor of Venable/Murray Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and online via Zoom (Meeting ID: 252-726-6841).

Presenter Affiliation: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University

Title:  What Calling Whales and Chorusing Fishes Reveal about Human Impacts on Marine Ecosystems.

Abstract: Marine bioacoustics has rapidly advanced as a survey methodology to quantitatively evaluate how organisms and communities respond to environmental changes, and we are beginning to understand the importance of soundscapes in marine ecosystems. Acoustic communication plays a fundamental role in the life history of many marine vertebrates, especially marine mammals and fishes. Unlike other communication modalities, acoustic communication can be observed remotely and passively, be used to assess species-specific patterns of behavior and ecology, and track organismal- and population-level changes over space and time. Many marine species are modifying their ecology due to increasing direct and indirect human influence on marine habitats. My research program capitalizes on the ability to detect sounds produced by marine organisms, and I use these sounds to answer critical questions in marine conservation. Here, I present three case studies of how my lab is using marine bioacoustics to understand and mitigate human impacts on whales and fishes from offshore windfarm construction, freshwater management, and climate change. These studies address critical information gaps in marine spatial planning and provide data to directly reduce uncertainty with decision-making and policy development. This integrative and comparative approach to the study of marine bioacoustics demonstrates how fundamental principles of physiology, behavior, and ecology can inform conservation approaches for mitigating human impacts to a rapidly changing ocean.