{"id":7147,"date":"2025-09-22T08:04:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/?p=7147"},"modified":"2025-09-22T08:04:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:04:31","slug":"right-whale-distribution-models-detailing-prey-can-inform-conservation-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/2025\/09\/22\/right-whale-distribution-models-detailing-prey-can-inform-conservation-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Right whale distribution models detailing prey can inform conservation efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite being one of the largest animals on the planet, the small population of the North Atlantic right whale and its vast habitat makes these marine mammals difficult to track. Models accurately detailing where they are located at different times of the year are essential for conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new study published in the journal Endangered Species Research<\/a> highlighted the value of including detailed prey information in right whale models, which can improve their predictive power for management and conservation. The study was led by Camille Ross \u201825G, associate research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center at the New England Aquarium, and co-authored by scientists from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Damian Brady, professor of oceanography at the University of Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers outlined a modeling approach that more effectively predicts where right whales congregate at different times of the year by including information on the abundance of their favorite zooplankton prey species, calanus, while also taking into consideration the whales\u2019 daily energy needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur novel approach accounts for the preferences and needs of a hungry whale, highlighting the importance of smaller species in the right whale diet,\u201d said Ross, who graduated from UMaine with a PH.D in oceanography in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t protect whales if you don\u2019t know where they are \u2014 and they go where the food is,\u201d Brady added. \u201cThis study helps us map that more precisely than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study brought together experts on modeling, right whale physiology and zooplankton ecology from Bigelow Laboratory, UMaine\u2019s Darling Marine Center, the Anderson Cabot Center, Duke University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving predictive tools with more direct, accurate information on prey will give scientists and managers a more holistic view of right whale habitat. Ross said predictive tools are essential for being proactive to potential shifts in right whale behavior as environmental conditions change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis paper is specifically focused on a right whale application, but this idea of interpolating zooplankton data from the perspective of the energetic requirements of the predator could be used across marine science,\u201d said Ross. \u201cThere are other species, like larval lobster, that feed on calanus, and there\u2019s no reason that our method couldn\u2019t be extended to those species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story on Bigelow Laboratory\u2019s website<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being one of the largest animals on the planet, the small population of the North Atlantic right whale and its vast habitat makes these marine mammals difficult to track. Models accurately detailing where they are located at different times of the year are essential for conservation. A new study published in the journal Endangered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2406,"featured_media":7150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[58,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine","category-wildlife"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":58,"label":"Marine"},{"value":59,"label":"Wildlife"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2025\/09\/Right-whales-news-feature-1536x867-1-1024x578.jpg",1024,578,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"lhecker","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/author\/lhecker\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":58,"name":"Marine","slug":"marine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":58,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":27,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":58,"category_count":27,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Marine","category_nicename":"marine","category_parent":44},{"term_id":59,"name":"Wildlife","slug":"wildlife","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":59,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":30,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":59,"category_count":30,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Wildlife","category_nicename":"wildlife","category_parent":44}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7152,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147\/revisions\/7152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}