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Publications

Strategic planning could reduce farm-scale mariculture impacts on marine biodiversity while expanding seafood production

From the abstract:“Here we estimate local cumulative environmental impacts from current and future (2050) mariculture production on marine biodiversity (20,013 marine fauna), while accounting for species range shifts under climate change. […] Our results reveal where and how much mariculture impacts could change in the coming decades and identify pathways for countries to minimize risks under expansion of mariculture and […]

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Abrahms Lab, Meet CES

Meet Marie-Pier

Welcome to Meet CES, where we get to meet the people behind the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels. In this first post we are meeting one of the newest members of the team, Marie-Pier Poulin. She received her BS in Biology from the Université du Québec in Rimouski in 2019, where she tracked arctic foxes in the Canadian tundra for her

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Publications

Generative AI as a tool to accelerate the field of ecology

This paper summarizes the potential generative artificial intelligence (AI) has to aid ecological research. With access to more and more data, like genetic information and animal movement data, generative AI could augment data-scarce datasets, extend observations of ecological patterns, and increase the accessibility of ecological data. The paper also covers the challenges to using generative AI such as privacy concerns,

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Boersma Lab, Updates from the Field

Field update: Argentina, December 2024 – January 2025

This field season is the first time we’ve been at Punta Tombo, Argentina persistently from October to March since before the pandemic! We’ve seen chicks hatch and watched them grow into chubby fledglings. Unfortunately many died in December with their bellies full; we suspect it was due to toxic algae, which could also be the cause of the 71 southern

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News

Research updates: Winter 2025

Here’s a digest of what we’ve published from December 2024 – February 2024. This post will auto update whenever we publish something new, so check back often! Keep up with all of our research following us on Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, and Bluesky!

Publications

Plasticity syndromes in wild vertebrates: Patterns and consequences of individual variation in plasticity across multiple behaviours

Animals can change their behavior to survive in environments that are constantly changing, a skill known as behavioral plasticity. Scientists have suggested that some animals might show “plasticity syndromes,” meaning they are flexible in many behaviors at the same time. Plasticity syndromes in wild vertebrates could help them respond better to change. To test this idea, researchers studied Magellanic penguins

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Publications

Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans

Excerpt from UW News: “Thousands of whales are injured or killed each year after being struck by ships, particularly the large container vessels that ferry 80% of the world’s traded goods across the oceans. Collisions are the leading cause of death worldwide for large whale species. Yet global data on ship strikes of whales are hard to come by —

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Publications

Removing institutional barriers to long-term fieldwork is critical for advancing ecology

Abstract: Long-term fieldwork is essential for ecology and conservation, but is hindered by institutional barriers, such as the publish-or-perish culture of academia, and funding limitations. Here, we discuss these challenges and propose strategies to overcome them, such as broadening evaluation metrics and supporting inclusivity, to advance scientific insight and societal equity. Authors: Kasim Rafiq, Neil R. Jordan, Weldon McNutt, John

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Publications

Maximizing biological insights from instruments attached to animals

From the highlights section: “Biologging sensors enable broad-scale, high-resolution measurements of the physiological, behavioral, demographic, social, and environmental interactions underpinning patterns in nature. We present a framework, case studies, and outstanding questions for integrating biologging data with theoretical concepts to facilitate process explanation and prediction.” Authors: Roxanne S. Beltran, A. Marm Kilpatrick, Simona Picardi, Briana Abrahms, Gabriel M. Barrile, William

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Publications

Foot darkening with age in Spheniscus penguins: applications and functions

From the abstract: “We found that Spheniscus penguins have pale feet at hatching and the feet become darker with age throughout the lives of individuals. We showed that we can accurately predict the age structure of a colony of Magellanic penguins Spheniscus magellanicus, but not the ages of individual penguins, based on a sample of foot colors.” Authors: Ginger Rebstock,

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Abrahms Lab, Updates from the Field

Field Updates: Botswana, summer 2024

Written by Dr. Kasim Rafiq In June 2024, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Kasim Rafiq and PhD candidate Leigh West from Dr. Briana Abrahms‘ lab returned to Wild Dog Camp in the Okavango Delta and were joined by Briana’s new PhD student Marie-Pier Poulin. The team successfully deployed six new tracking collars on African wild dogs, including in two brand new packs,

Abrahms Lab, News

Grad student Leigh West published first article as lead author

Congratulations to Leigh West, Dr. Abrahms’s graduate student, who just recently published her first article as lead author. Her research article, “Droughts reshape apex predator space use and intraguild overlap,” was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology on October 4th, and also serves as the second chapter of her dissertation. This is an exciting milestone for Leigh as she

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