Care about climate change, physiology, marine mammals and want to do something about it?
Exciting PhD opportunity funded by @mastscot.bsky.social to work with Andrew Brownlow, myself, @jlkershaw.bsky.social , Fiona Manson,
@strandings.bsky.social,
@naturescot.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/3aj4kft9
Extremely proud of @wild-devs.bsky.social first first-author publication. Devonne showed sexual segregation and stable pregnancy rates in minke whales sampled in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between 2007-2015 @jlkershaw.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk @meps-ir.bsky.social
www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...
This study was made possible by the long-term biopsy work of the Mingan Island Cetacean Study.
Thank you to my co-authors, supervisors @jlkershaw.bsky.social & @davinaderous.bsky.social, and @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding part of this research.
📖 Check it out here: www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...
Three minke whales surfacing in calm, glassy water under a blue sky in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their dark dorsal fins are visible above the surface, with distant landforms and soft clouds on the horizon.
🐋♀ We found evidence of sex & reproductive-state segregation — specifically biased toward pregnant females.
🐟 Species-specific prey availability the year before pregnancy didn’t explain yearly changes in pregnancy rates, possibly due to minke whales' generalist diet.
Photo credit: Christian Ramp
Title page of a scientific article published in Marine Ecology Progress Series on April 10, 2025. The article is titled 'Sexual segregation and stable pregnancy rates in the Gulf of St. Lawrence's minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) amidst environmental changes.' Authors listed include Devonne Gardiner, Christian A. Ramp, Richard Sears, Laura Paling, Davina Derous, Martine Bérubé, Per Palsbøll, and Joanna L. Kershaw, with affiliations in the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, and the USA. The page displays the Inter-Research Science Publisher logo and a note indicating open access.
🎉 Excited to share my 1st first-author paper has been published in @meps-ir.bsky.social
We used biopsy samples to investigate population demographics & ecophysiology of free-ranging #minkewhales in the northern Gulf of St Lawrence
www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...
#marineconservation #marinemammals
New research reveals the extraordinary energy demands of humpback whale mothers, who travel over 3,000 miles without food to birth and nourish their 2,600-pound calves, a feat now further imperiled by climate change and marine heatwaves disrupting their critical food supply.
New paper from my PhD provides genomic evidence that white shark livers are on the menu for Aussie killer whales!
See more here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Great article on using hormone analysis from baleen to infer how #whales responded to the resumption of #whaling.
Stress hormones rose in whales in the first year that whaling resumed post WWII - even in those that weren't killed that year.
Kathleen Hunt / Alyson Fleming / Allie Case
🐳🌍🦑
Understanding reproductive seasonality is important during wildlife management and monitoring. This study of testosterone levels in grey whales 🐋 provides new insights into their reproductive biology.
Read it here: https://buff.ly/42mFO2m