Lab home page

http://www.marinebioacoustics.com

Sensory physiology of marine mammals and their prey. Functional anatomy, dynamics and biomechanics of odontocete sound production. Biosonar, signal properties, prey detection and auditory scene analysis of toothed whales. Hearing and particle motion detection in aquatic organisms. Ecophysiology, behavior, energetics and foraging ecology of deep diving odontocetes. Acoustic interactions between toothed whales and their prey. Physiological, behavioral and energetic effects of man made noise on marine mammals. Controlled exposure and playback experiments for mitigative purposes. Passive acoustic monitoring and underwater sound communication and sound transmission. Vibrations and pressure detection in lower vertebrates.

International collaborators

Peter L. Tyack and Mark Johnson (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA), Natacha Aguilar de Soto (University of La Laguna, Tenerife), Walter Zimmer (NATO Undersea Research Center, La Spezia, Italien), Whitlow Au and Paul Nachtigall (Hawaii Institute for Marine Biology, USA), Sam Ridgway & Don Carder (Space and Warfare Systems Center, San Diego, USA),  Lars Bejder (Murdoch University, Australia), Roger Hanlon (Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, USA). Vincent Janik (SMRU, University of St. Andrews, Scotland))

Study animals

We study the acoustics, sensory physiology and behavioral ecology of echolocating toothed whales from harbour porpoises to sperm whales with special focus on deep diving species in collaboration Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) and University of La Laguna (Tenerife). We also study the sensory physiology and acoustics of fish and cephalopods, and the foraging and sensory ecology of baleen whales. Recently we have started studies of vibration and pressure detection in fish, amphibians and reptiles.