SPEAKER SERIES 2008-2009
The Puget Sound Chapter of the American Cetacean Society Speaker Series does not meet during the months of July, August, & December.
15 October 2008 - Thomas White
"In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier"
In his new book In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier, philosopher Thomas White argues that the scientific evidence is now strong enough to support the claim that dolphins are, like humans, self-aware, intelligent beings with emotions, personalities and the capacity to control their actions. See http://www.indefenseofdolphins.com/
Thomas I. White is the Hilton Professor of Business Ethics and Director of the Center for Ethics and Business at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Professor White received his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University and taught at Upsala College and Rider University in New Jersey before moving to California in 1994. His publications include five books (Right and Wrong, Discovering Philosophy, Business Ethics, Men and Women at Work, and In Defense of Dolphins) and numerous articles on topics ranging from sixteenth-century Renaissance humanism to business ethics. His most recent research has focused on the philosophical implications--especially the ethical implications--of the scientific research on dolphins.
UN's Year of the dolphin welcomes Professor Thomas White as Ambassador for 2008. [more]
19 November 2008 - Dawn Noren
Northwest Fisheries Science Center
Using behavioral data to gain insight into habitat use and
bioenergetics of Southern Resident killer whales
Dawn Noren will discuss some analyses that she and her collaborators
conducted on the behavioral data collected from Southern Resident
killer whales for a vessel impact study. Although Dawn will not be
presenting the results of the vessel impact study yet, as those
anlayses are still being conducted, she will briefly describe the
purpose of the vessel impact study and how the data that were collected
relate to the goals of that study. The presentation will focus on how
we can use these data to investigate key areas where generalized
behavior states occur as well as how specific behaviors (e.g., dive
duration, swimming speed, spatial arrangement of whales) vary between
geographic areas in the San Juans. Dawn will also discuss how we can
use swimming speed and respiration data to model the bioenergetics of
Southern Resident killer whales, particularly how much energy the
whales expend daily (and consequently, how many fish that must be
consumed).
Dawn is a physiological ecologist whose primary research interests include: 1) diving physiology, 2) energetics and metabolism, 3) the assessment of body condition, and 4) how individual variation in condition and physiology impacts animals' abilities to function in their environment. She is currently studying the potential impacts of vessel presence on Southern Resident killer whale behavior and energetics. In order to assess this, she is collecting behavioral data from Southern Resident killer whales in the San Juan Islands using a focal follow approach. In addition, she is conducting energetics studies on trained bottlenose dolphins and a killer whales to determine the metabolic costs of surface active behaviors, which are sometimes attributed to disturbance. Her data will help scientists understand stresses to killer whales caused by frequent exposure to vessels. Finally, she is working on a collaborative study with the Harmful Algal Bloom group at the NWFSC to assess potential impacts to killer whales that consume salmon during a harmful algal bloom. more
21 January 2009 - speaker tba
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details will be posted when available
18 February 2009 - speaker tba
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25 March 2009 - speaker tba
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22 April 2009 - speaker tba
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20 May 2009 - speaker tba
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17 June 2009 - speaker tba
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