Briana Abrahms, associate professor of biology at the 91探花, studies how climate change affects human-wildlife interactions and increases conflict around the world. In January, she gave the keynote speech at the International Parliamentary Roundtable on Human-Wildlife Coexistence held in Botswana.
In the wake of One Ocean Week Seattle, participating 91探花 researchers share highlights, connecting the week鈥檚 events to ongoing efforts to understand and protect marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
A new study led by the 91探花 has for the first time quantified the risk for whale-ship collisions worldwide for four geographically widespread ocean giants that are threatened by shipping: blue, fin, humpback and sperm whales. In a paper published online Nov. 21 in Science, researchers report that global shipping traffic overlaps with about 92% of these whale species鈥� ranges. Only about 7% of areas at highest risk for whale-ship collisions have any measures in place to protect whales from this threat. These measures include speed reductions, both mandatory and voluntary, for ships crossing waters that overlap with whale migration or feeding areas.
New research led by the 91探花 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has revealed how underwater noise produced by humans may help explain why southern resident orca populations have not recovered from historic lows. In a paper published Sept. 10 in Global Change Biology, the team reports that underwater noise pollution 鈥� from both large and small vessels 鈥� forces northern and southern resident orcas to expend more time and energy hunting for fish. The din also lowers the overall success of their hunting efforts. Noise from ships likely has an outsized impact on southern resident orca pods, which spend more time in parts of the Salish Sea with high ship traffic.
The overlap between humans and animals will increase substantially across much of the planet in less than 50 years due to human population growth and climate change, according to a collaborative study by scientists at the University of Michigan, the 91探花 and University College London. By 2070, the overlap between humans and more than 22,000 vertebrate species will rise across nearly 57% of Earth鈥檚 land, according to the team.
Briana Abrahms, a 91探花 assistant professor of biology and researcher with the 91探花Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, has been named a 2023 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering, according to an Oct. 16 announcement from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. As one of 20 new fellows across the country, Abrahms, who holds the Boersma Endowed Chair in Natural History and Conservation, will receive $875,000 over five years for her research.
In the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, southern resident orcas have experienced no net population growth since the 1970s, with just 73 left at the most recent count. But northern resident orcas, which have a similar diet, territory and social structure, have grown steadily, now numbering more than 300. A new study led by scientists at the 91探花 and NOAA Fisheries may help explain why: The two populations differ in how they hunt for salmon, their primary and preferred food source, a key difference that conservationists will have to take into account when designing interventions to help southern residents.
Research led by scientists at the 91探花鈥檚 Center for Ecosystem Sentinels reveals that a warming world is increasing human-wildlife conflicts globally. They show that climate shifts can drive conflicts by altering animal habitats, the timing of events, wildlife behaviors and resource availability. It also showed that people are changing their behaviors and locations in response to climate change in ways that increase conflicts.
Climate change will reshape ecosystems through two types of events: short-term, extreme events 鈥� or 鈥減ulses鈥� 鈥� and long-term changes, or 鈥減resses.鈥� Understanding the effects of presses and pulses is essential as conservationists and policymakers try to preserve ecosystems and safeguard biodiversity. Researchers at the 91探花 have discovered how different presses and pulses impacted Magellanic penguins 鈥� a migratory marine predator 鈥� over nearly four decades and found that, though individual presses and pulses impacted penguins in a variety of ways, both were equally important for the future survival of the penguin population. They also found that these types of climate changes, taken together, are leading to an overall population decline at their historically largest breeding site.
A study led by 91探花 researchers shows that over a 30-year period, African wild dogs shifted their average birthing dates later by 22 days, an adaptation that allowed them to match the birth of new litters with the coolest temperatures in early winter. But as a result of this significant shift, fewer pups survived their most vulnerable period because temperatures during their critical post-birth 鈥渄enning period鈥� increased over the same time period, threatening the population of this already endangered species. It is the first study to show that large mammalian carnivores are making major changes to their life history in response to a changing climate.
Two faculty members at the 91探花 have been awarded early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellows, announced Feb. 15, are聽Brianna Abrahms, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, and Yulia Tsvetkov, an assistant professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.
Like humans, wild animals often return to the same places to eat, walk on the same paths to travel and use the same places to raise their young. A team led by researchers at the 91探花 and the University of Wyoming has reviewed the scientific literature and found that, while 鈥渃onsistent鈥� behavior may be beneficial when environmental conditions don鈥檛 change very fast, those benefits may not be realized in the ever-changing world dominated by humans.
In 2019, 91探花 researchers witnessed the consequences of an extreme heat event in Argentina at one of the world鈥檚 largest breeding colonies for Magellanic penguins. On Jan. 19, temperatures at the site in Punta Tombo, on Argentina鈥檚 southern coast, spiked in the shade to 44 C, or 111.2 F. As the team reports in a paper published Jan. 4 in the journal Ornithological Applications, the extreme heat wave killed at least 354 penguins, based on a search for bodies by 91探花researchers in the days following the record high temperature. Nearly three-quarters of the penguins that died 鈥� 264 鈥� were adults, many of which likely died of dehydration, based on postmortem analyses.
Climate change is further exacerbating human-wildlife conflicts by straining ecosystems and altering behaviors, both of which can deepen the contacts 鈥� and potential competition 鈥� between people and animals. In an article published July 30 in the journal Science, Briana Abrahms, an assistant professor of biology at the 91探花 and its Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, calls for expanding research into the many ways that climate change will impact the complex interplay between human activities and wildlife populations.
Many seabirds in the Northern Hemisphere are struggling to breed 鈥� and in the Southern Hemisphere, they may not be far behind. These are the conclusions of a study, published May 28 in Science, analyzing more than 50 years of breeding records for 67 seabird species worldwide.
Seven scientists and engineers at the 91探花 have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, according to an announcement July 15 by the academy.
P. Dee Boersma, a 91探花professor of biology and director of the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, is a finalist for the 2020 Indianapolis Prize for conservation, to be awarded later this year by the Indianapolis Zoological Society. Sue Moore, a scientist with the center and a 91探花affiliate professor of biology and of aquatic and fishery sciences, has won the 2020 IASC Medal, also known as the Arctic Medal, from the International Arctic Science Committee.
Researchers at the 91探花 wanted to know how Magellanic penguin parents in South America balance the dietary demands of multiple chicks. As they report in a paper published Jan. 23 in the journal Animal Behaviour, when a Magellanic penguin parent returns to its nest with fish, the parent tries to feed each of its two chicks equal portions of food, regardless of the youngsters’ differences in age or size.
Female Magellanic penguins are more likely to die at sea as juveniles, which has caused a skewed sex ratio of nearly three adult males to every female, as well as population decline of more than 40 percent since 1987 at one of their largest breeding colonies 鈥� Punta Tombo in Argentina.
Researchers from the 91探花 have shown how Magellanic penguins fare during the winter months when they spend months at sea feeding. They have discovered that oceanographic features are more likely to negatively impact the body conditions of Magellanic penguin females, but not males, when the penguins return to their nesting grounds in spring.
In a paper published April 5 in the journal Endangered Species Research, scientists at the 91探花 announced that, for a Gal谩pagos penguin, beak size is nearly a perfect indicator of whether a bird is male or female.
A research team led by 91探花 biology professor Dee Boersma reports that fully grown Galapagos penguins who have fledged 鈥� or left the nest 鈥� continue to beg their parents for food. And sometimes, probably when the bounty of the sea is plentiful, parents oblige and feed their adult offspring.
91探花 biologist Dee Boersma and her colleagues combed through 28 years’ worth of data on Magellanic penguins to search for signs that natural selection 鈥� one of the main drivers of evolution 鈥� may be acting on certain penguin traits. As they report in a paper published Sept. 21 in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, selection is indeed at work on the penguins at the Punta Tombo breeding site in Argentina.
New regulations by the government of Ecuador to protect the waters around the Galapagos Islands as a marine preserve, including main feeding areas for Galapagos penguins.
On Dec. 3, the legislature for Argentina’s Chubut province established a new marine protected area off Punta Tombo, which would help preserve the feeding grounds for about 500,000 Magellanic penguins that make their home along this rocky stretch of Argentine coast. This is welcome news for the 91探花scientists who have studied these penguins for decades and advocated for their conservation.
Scientists writing in the current issue of Conservation Biology call for marine protected areas and partially protected areas to help penguins cope.
Climate change is killing penguin chicks from the world’s largest colony of Magellanic penguins, not just indirectly but directly because of drenching rainstorms and heat.