Quantifying hormones in exhaled breath for physiological assessment of large whales at sea

Burgess, Elizabeth A.; Hunt, Kathleen E.; Kraus, Scott D.; Rolland, Rosalind M.

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-28200-8

Cited by 51 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Technologies that are increasingly being used in marine research, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, can also provide non‐invasive monitoring of population size, health, and reproductive status of individuals: for example, by collecting samples from whale blows (exhaled breath) (Burgess et al . ; Johnston ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, population estimates of animals in remote locales can be obtained more frequently and more broadly than is possible through traditional survey methods. Technologies that are increasingly being used in marine research, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, can also provide non-invasive monitoring of population size, health, and reproductive status of individuals: for example, by collecting samples from whale blows (exhaled breath) (Burgess et al 2018;Johnston 2019).…”

Section: The Future Of Sentinel Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Marine top predators as climate and ecosystem sentinels

Hazen

Abrahms

Brodie

et al. 2019

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

271

157

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The rapid pace of environmental change in the Anthropocene necessitates the development of a new suite of tools for measuring ecosystem dynamics. Sentinel species can provide insight into ecosystem function, identify hidden risks to human health, and predict future change. As sentinels, marine apex (top) predators offer a unique perspective into ocean processes, given that they can move across ocean basins and amplify trophic information across multiple spatiotemporal scales. Because use of the terms “ecosystem sentinel” and “climate sentinel” has proliferated in the scientific literature, there is a need to identify the properties that make marine predators effective sentinels. We provide a clear definition of the term “sentinel”, review the attributes of species identified as sentinels, and describe how a suite of such sentinels could strengthen our understanding and management of marine ecosystems. We contend that the use of marine predators as ecosystem sentinels will enable rapid response and adaptation to ecosystem variability and change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Future Of Sentinel Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Marine top predators as climate and ecosystem sentinels

Hazen

Abrahms

Brodie

et al. 2019

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

271

157

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A potentially more accessible and repeatable method is to use whale respiratory vapor to assess hormone levels, disease organisms, and microbiome information. Burgess et al (2018) demonstrated the feasibility of using polemounted collection of whale blow for hormone analyses with the caveat that sample concentrations must be normalized as an unknown amount of salt water is mixed with every exhalation (Burgess et al, 2018). UAS collection provides the opportunity to sample while keeping the boat further away from individual whales, Pirotta et al (2017) used a drone to collect an extraordinary diversity and abundance of microbiota from the blow in migrating populations of humpback whales, clearly and unambiguously distinguishing microbial communities from surrounding control seawater and air samples (Pirotta et al, 2017).…”

Section: Methods For Assessing Factors Affecting Right Whale Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future Directions in Eubalaena spp.: Comparative Research to Inform Conservation

et al. 2019

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All three extant right whales [Eubalaena australis (Southern; SRW), glacialis (North Atlantic; NARW), and japonica (North Pacific; NPRW)] were heavily exploited, and the status of the two northern hemisphere species remains precarious. Recently, limited gains made by the NARW have been reversed and urgent changes to management approaches are needed if extinction is to be averted. By contrast, some SRW populations are recovering. Given their close phylogenetic relationship, morphological, demographic, and ecological similarities, the contrasting recovery rates between populations and species provide an opportunity to apply a comparative approach to inform the differences in recovery as follows. (1) Recovery: All right whale species were internationally protected in 1931, but NARW, eastern NPRW and some SRW populations have barely recovered from whaling, while others are doing so at maximal rates. Are these differences a legacy of extreme depletion (e.g., loss of genetic diversity and cultural knowledge) or primarily due to anthropogenic factors (e.g., high mortality from ship strike and fisheries entanglement)? If modern anthropogenic threats are not affecting remote SRW populations, can these serve as baseline populations for comparison with NARW and NPRW? (2) Linking individuals to population-level responses: In wild mammals, strong links exist between reproductive indices and environmental conditions within the context of life-history strategies. Individual identification of whales provides the ability to track survival, reproduction and other demographic parameters, and their population-level consequences, providing the tools with which to uncover these links. Robust life-history analyses are now available for NARW and several SRW populations, linking demography with environmental conditions, providing the potential for teasing out important influencing factors. (3) Adapting to shifting resources: Recent reproductive declines in NARW appear linked to changing food resources. While we know some large-scale movement patterns for NARW and a few SRW populations, we know little of mesoscale movements. For NPRW and some SRW populations, even broad-scale movements are poorly understood. In the face of climate change, can methodological advances help identify Eubalaena distributional and migratory responses? (4) Emergent diseases and the vulnerability of populations under stress: Marine mammals are vulnerable to infectious diseases,

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“…; Burgess et al . ). The temporal signature of the physiological response manifested as concentrations of GCs in these different types of biological samples varies from real‐time (blood) or near real‐time (blow), to hours or days (blubber, feces) or months to years (cerumen, hair, and baleen).…”

Section: The Mean (± Sd) Baseline (± Sd) and Maximum Values For Cormentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Glucocorticoid hormones (GCs) have been analyzed in several sample types in marine mammals, including blood (i.e., serum, plasma), blubber, feces, hair, saliva, exhaled respiratory 1 vapor ("blow"), cerumen (i.e., earwax, ear plug), and baleen (e.g., Hogg et al 2005Hogg et al , 2009Amaral 2010;Rolland et al 2012Rolland et al , 2017St. Aubin et al 2013;Trumble et al 2013;Hunt et al 2014;Kellar et al 2015;Champagne et al 2016;Robeck et al 2017;Burgess et al 2018). The temporal signature of the physiological response manifested as concentrations of GCs in these different types of biological samples varies from real-time (blood) or near real-time (blow), to hours or days (blubber, feces) or months to years (cerumen, hair, and baleen).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%