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Leveraging machine learning and accelerometry to classify animal behaviors with uncertainty

Publications /

Animal-worn sensors, especially accelerometers, are increasingly used with machine-learning models to identify animal behaviors. These tools often struggle with uneven training data, uncertain predictions, and noisy results. To address these issues, Dr. Rafiq and Dr. Abrahms, with their collaborators, developed an open-source method that combines machine learning and statistical techniques to improve behavior classification and to provide “prediction sets,” which […]

Field updates: Argentina, October-November 2025

Abrahms Lab, Boersma Lab, Updates from the Field /

Written by Dr. Eric Wagner Starting the season – stake survey and tag hunting In late October, Dr. Eric Wagner and Abrahms graduate student Meredith Honig traveled to Argentina to start the 2025-2026 field season. After getting a provisional permit from the provincial authorities, they arrived at Punta Tombo on October 29. They then spent the next two days completing

Cruise to Baffin Island: September 1-18, 2026

Boersma Lab, News /

Join Dr. Dee Boersma, Dr. Sue Moore, and Dr. Nigella Hillgarth on a cruise to Baffin Island! This will be an expedition from Greenland to the Canadian Arctic and into the Northwest Passages, from September 1 – 18, 2026. Sail in the same waters as Roald Amundsen and his crew of six during their 1903-06 successful navigation of the Northwest

A mother gray whale and calf spy-hopping.

What gray whales are telling us about ecosystem change in the Pacific Arctic

Publications /

Gray whales in the eastern North Pacific have been shrinking in number for the past six years — and the decline seems to be getting worse. This is surprising because gray whales had made a big comeback after being hunted almost to extinction. But now, warming oceans are changing their Arctic feeding areas. Less sea ice and shifts in ocean

Field updates: Botswana, August-October 2025

Abrahms Lab, Updates from the Field /

Written by Dr. Kasim Rafiq and graduate student Marie-Pier Poulin of the Abrahms LabAll research and photographs are done in compliance with IACUC-approved protocols, and have been permitted through the appropriate permits. Over the past few months, we have been busy collecting data on African carnivores at Dog Camp, the Botswana-based bush camp of our long-term collaborators Wild Entrust’s Botswana

Dr. Sue Moore and Dr. Jennifer Tennessen attend One Ocean Week Seattle

Boersma Lab, News /

Dr. Sue Moore and Dr. Jennifer Tennessen attended One Ocean Week Seattle, a region-wide, international gathering of ocean leaders, innovators, researchers, startups, policymakers, artists, educators, and communities to accelerate solutions for a sustainable, inclusive maritime future. Dr. Moore was a panelist on the “Coast to Coast Collaboration in Research” session, organized by Arctic Frontiers, Abroad and held onboard the Statsraad

Dr. Dee Boersma signs AAAS’s Book of Members

Boersma Lab /

On October 11, 2025 Dr. Dee Boersma finally signed the AAAS’s Book of Members during the 2025 induction ceremony. Congratulations Dee! Dee was officially inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. Dee couldn’t make the 2021 induction ceremony due to COVID, and field work trips kept her from attending a ceremony after 2021.

An African wild dog looks towards the camera through green leaves.

Wild canids and felids differ in their reliance on reused travel routeways

Publications /

Dr. Briana Abrahms and Dr. Kasim Rafiq, along with many collaborators, published this study in PNAS earlier this fall. Animals move through their environments in many different ways, and these movement patterns affect things like hunting, finding mates, and spreading diseases. This study looked at GPS data from over 1,200 wild carnivores—16 canid (dog-like) and 18 felid (cat-like) species from

A wet Magellanic chick stands in a flooded burrow.

Interacting climatic and biotic drivers of population responses to climate change

Publications /

Full title: Comparative life-cycle analyses reveal interacting climatic and biotic drivers of population responses to climate change Dr. Briana Abrahms and Dr. Dee Boersma collaborated on this study, published in PNAS Nexus in September. The study looked at long-term data from 41 plant and animal species to understand how climate change and other factors together affect survival and reproduction. The

Two people on a blow-up boat look at a Galapagos penguin that is standing on the edge of the boat.

Field Updates: Galápagos, Summer 2025

Boersma Lab, Updates from the Field /

Dr. Dee Boersma, Dr. Sue Moore, and Dr. Caroline Cappello were in the Galápagos from July 25 – August 3 to survey the penguins on the islands. They were able to measure 36 of them—16 more than last year! Measuring penguins is an essential part of our project, which is maintaining continuity with our decades-long dataset on the species. Dr. Boersma began studying

Field updates: Botswana, June – July 2025

Abrahms Lab, Updates from the Field /

Post written by Marie-Pier Poulin Graduate student Marie-Pier Poulin scans for animal tracking collars in the Okavango Delta. Photo credit: Leigh West In mid-June, PhD candidate Leigh West, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Kasim Rafiq, and graduate student Marie-Pier Poulin arrived at Dog Camp, the Botswana-based bush camp of our long-term collaborators Wild Entrust’s Botswana Predator Conservation. Over the past month, we

Meet Dr. Katie Holt

Boersma Lab, Meet CES /

Welcome to the next installment of Meet CES, where we get to meet the people behind the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels. Next up is Dr. Katie Holt, who just earned her PhD at the University of Washington! Katie’s been with the Boersma Lab since October 2015, when she was hired to replace Caroline Cappello as Lab Coordinator. She started graduate

Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities

Publications /

Full title: Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology From the abstract: “Although the survey indicated most conference participants as bias-aware, conversations only covered a subset of biases. We discuss potential causes of bias (parachute-science, fieldwork accessibility), solutions and the need to evaluate mitigatory action effectiveness. Undertaking data-driven analysis of bias within sub-disciplines can

A humpback whale breaching in a graceful arc.

Identifying climate refugia and bright spots for highly mobile species

Publications /

From the abstract: “We present a framework to facilitate climate change adaptation planning by identifying where highly migratory species habitats will persist (climate refugia), emerge (bright spots), disappear (dark spots), or remain unsuitable based on model analysis by 2100. When applied to eight species in the California Current System, we found that, on average, 37% of habitats are expected to

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