Science topics
Sperm whale strandings - Karen Evans
The Scientist
I completed my Bachelor of Science at James Cook University in
Townsville and then completed an honours degree on Adelie penguins
with the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS)
at the University of Tasmania.
I am currently investigating the biology and ecology of southern
Australian sperm whales as a PhD project. I have also worked on
a number of research
programs focused on such animals as larval fish, deep-sea corals
and orange roughy with the CSIRO and on Southern Ocean cetaceans
and penguins on
Macquarie Island with the Antarctic Wildlife Research Unit at the
University of Tasmania.
My real love is with cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and the main
focus of my research over the last few years has involved co-ordinating
and implementing the cetacean stranding program run by the Antarctic
Wildlife Research Unit. This has involved some pretty
messy, smelly work on many beaches around Tasmania in sometimes
not so very nice conditions but the samples collected provide us
with information we could not otherwise obtain from these amazing
animals. The samples collected can provide us with information on
the morphology (individual variation in size, shape, colour etc.
of an animal) age, sex, reproductive state (whether an animals is
pregnant or has a calf), pollutant and parasite loads, incidence
of disease, genetics, social structure and diet. Just recording
the incidence of strandings provides us with information on the
distribution of the different species. We can also sometimes understand
a little more about the cause of death and whether this was natural
or human induced (e.g. through entanglement).
Karen's collaboration is with artist Hanna
Parssinen.
The Research
My PhD project is focused on three groups of sperm whales that
stranded on the west and north coasts of Tasmania in 1998. These
strandings involved a total of 117 animals, primarily composed of
females and their young. Biological samples were collected from
each of these the animals to learn about the age structure, morphometrics,
sex ratios, diet, nutritive condition, pollutant loads as well the
genetics and social structure of these groups of animals. All of
this information helps me to understand more about the requirements
of these animals, aspects of the life history and reproductive strategies
of these animals, interactions of these animals within the marine
ecosystem and the pressures placed on these animals in this region
of the Southern Ocean. This information is not only of interest
to me as a biologist, it is also essential for the proper management
and conservation of our marine environment.
Additional information:
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