INTRODUCTION
There exists an
increasing need for predictive models to assess the effects
of man-made stimuli on marine wildlife. An example of this
is the impact of sound on marine life. The propagation of
sound through the environment is dependent upon a number of
factors, including the salinity and temperature profiles of
the water column, the bathymetry and composition of the
ocean bottom, etc. This makes sound propagation very
complicated in three dimensions. Therefore, in order to
understand or predict how much sound an animal might
receive, it is necessary to know how it moves through the
environment and the sound field. There are several models
that can make such predictions. However, there are
substantial data needs for such a model. Perhaps the least
defined inputs are those describing the movements of the
animals. The goal of our project is to produce a
world-standard database for behavioral measurements on
marine wildlife. The Marine Wildlife Behavior Database
(MWBD) project is creating a publicly accessible database
of these behavioral parameters for marine wildlife
at
http://mwbd.edc.uri.edu.
OBJECTIVE OF THE WORKSHOP
Convene
researchers collecting behavior data on marine mammals to
discuss the proposed standard for measuring and reporting
diving, movement, and acoustic characteristics of marine
wildlife.
To assist with
this objective, we have provided background reading
material and homework for participants to complete prior to
the workshop.
BACKGROUND READING/HOMEWORK
On the workshop
Materials page we have provided a copy of the draft
protocol that describes the fields in the database and
reviews the approach to extracting parameter values from
published literature. We have also provided the draft
format of the database in a pdf file and Excel files, populated by
values extracted from a few select papers for the humpback whale. Additionally, we have listed relevant papers and provided pdf reprints for
another species, the sperm whale. We invite the attendees
to review one or more of these papers and go through the
protocol to extract parameter values. We have allocated
time during the workshop to review your work and ask for
your feedback and suggestions on how to improve the
database and the protocol for entering data.
LOCATION AND TIME
The workshop
will be held Tuesday Afternoon (13:00-17:00), November 27. It is
currently scheduled for Room 2.43 in the CTICC.
COST
The sponsor of
the Marine Wildlife Behavior Database will cover the fixed
costs of the workshop (i.e., room rental). Since this is a
half-day workshop, we are not scheduling coffee breaks.
Please bring your own coffee (and one to share with us!)
REGISTRATION
The space is
limited to 30 participants and anyone interested in
attending must pre-register by emailing the following
information (MWBD_Wkshp_Reg.pdf) to
BehavWorkshop@gmail.com.
Priority for participation in the workshop will be given to
active researchers who will be able to transmit information
about the MWBD to others in their lab or region.
WORKSHOP
AGENDA