Institutional Seminar Series
(in person)
Tuesday, October 31st, 2023
at Scripps Seaside Forum Auditorium
12 p.m. Talks begin w/ Q&A
Pizza to be served after, will have vegan and gluten free options
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TITLE: Ecological investigations using autonomous passive acoustics - from individuals to populations
ABSTRACT: Autonomous passive acoustic recordings capture sounds from a variety of biological sources. Analysis of long-term and large spatial-scale records can lead to a better ecological understanding of individuals, communities and populations. This talk will provide an overview of how this methodology and type of data can be used. I will draw from recent research on fish chorusing from sites across the central North Pacific, biogeography of a dolphin species in the eastern North Pacific, demographic and animal density studies of sperm whales in the western North Atlantic, and tracking of elusive, deep-diving beaked whales in Southern California.
BIO: Simone Baumann-Pickering is a biological oceanographer. Her research covers long-term phenological patterns and spatial ecology of cetaceans, interactions of predators and prey, and adaptations of animals to natural and anthropogenic changes in the environment. She has carried out collaborative ecological research using advanced acoustical and environmental sampling technologies with indirect and direct applications to protected species management. She earned her doctorate degree in 2009 from Eberhard-Karls University Tuebingen, Germany, joined SIO as a postdoctoral researcher and has since held positions as research and more recently academic faculty.
TITLE: So, you found a new species. Now what?
ABSTRACT: You may or may not be be surprised to know that there is much uncertainty about how many marine species there are, even for well-known groups such as animals. Partly this is to do with problems with determining what species actually are, as well as the lack of sampling, particularly in the deep sea. With the advent of DNA tools to assess biodiversity it has become apparent that there are far more species than most have suspected. Many ‘species’ are being discovered and DNA sequences are being lodged on public archives such as GenBank but they are not being formally named (i.e., given a binomial name such as Homo sapiens). This problem of biodiversity without names is ever increasing. The impediment lies in part with the arcane rules of naming species, which date to well before evolution became a paradigm for biology. I’ll briefly explain the problem, show some of the species I’ve been involved with naming and argue why such naming is important.
BIO: I joined the faculty at SIO in 2006 and also became Curator of the Benthic Invertebrate Collection. Prior to that I was at the South Australian Museum, University of Sydney and the Smithsonian. My degrees are from the University of Queensland and University of Sydney. I work on animal biodiversity and evolution, mostly marine invertebrates, using a range of molecular and morphological tools.
*Talks will not be recorded.