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Lab Manual for SEFSC Passive Acoustic Ecology Program

SEFSC Passive Acoustic Ecology Program Lab Manual

Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei). Credit: NOAA Fisheries (MMPA Permit #21938)

The Passive Acoustic Ecology Program conducts a variety of research projects that use passive acoustics to assess populations and improve our understanding of cetaceans in the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. waters of the Western Atlantic. We are part of the Marine Mammal and Turtle Division at NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami, Florida.

This lab manual serves as the go-to handbook for the behind-the-scenes information to support our science. It serves as a document for keeping institutional knowledge by providing information on various procedures, field methods, analyses, inventories, and available resources, among other things.

Team Members

Program Lead

Melissa Soldevilla

Researchers

Manuel (Manolo) Castellote, Lead for North Atlantic Right Whale studies

Amanda Debich, Lead acoustic technician for Rice’s whale studies

Heloise Frouin-Mouy, Assistant scientist for LISTEN GoMex project, odontocete density estimation

Lynne Hodge, Acoustic technician for LISTEN GoMex project, shipping noise and marine mammal characterization

Ludovic Tenorio-Halle, Rice’s whale studies, propagation modeling, ambient noise

Graduate Students

Ashley Cook, Doctoral student at University of Miami, Rice’s whale studies

Volunteers

Emily Stens

Former Members

Researcher Staff: Shannon Merkle, Jonathan Reid, Katrina Ternus

Graduate Students: Sierra Jarriel, Itzel Perez Carballo

Interns: Beyza Gul, Alexandria Tennant

Volunteers: Miles Lubas, Vanessa Lundsten

Partners

Passive acoustic monitoring requires specialized equipment and produces a lot of data. These data require computer intensive analyses to discover all the important information about marine mammals and their acoustic habitats contained in the underwater sound recordings. The Southeast Center collaborates with many institutions within and outside NOAA to help us achieve these goals.

The agencies we work with include: