Charla J. Basran- Doctor of Biology
- PostDoc Position at University of Iceland
Charla J. Basran
- Doctor of Biology
- PostDoc Position at University of Iceland
About
25
Publications
11,743
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
109
Citations
Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
University of Iceland / Ocean Missions NGO
Position
- Post-doctoral Researcher / Scientific Advisor
Description
- ~Post-doctoral cetacean research including photo-ID, entanglement monitoring and mitigation, and acoustics. ~Supervising international internship program for bachelor and master's degree students. ~Scientific advising for Ocean Missions NGO including micro-, meso-, and macro-plastic research, cetacean and bird surveying, grant writing, and public education.
Publications
Publications (25)
In this study, we compared the established MaxEnt and a more novel deep learning approach for modeling the distribution of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in north Iceland. We examined the mechanisms, structures, and optimization techniques of both approaches, highlighting their differences and similarities. Monthly distribution models for...
Biorepositories, or biobanks, are vital to marine science. Their collections safeguard biological knowledge, enable follow-up studies and reproducibility confirmations, and help extend ecological baselines. Biorepository networks and data portals aggregate catalogs and facilitate open data and material exchange. Such integrations enrich contextual...
North Atlantic (NA) humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrate between high-latitude maternal feeding grounds and low-latitude breeding/calving grounds, with one distinct breeding segment currently considered endangered: Cape Verde Islands/northwest Africa (CVI). This study assesses the movement patterns and population spatial structuring of...
Governments are increasingly monitoring meso- and microplastic (M/MP) pollution in surface waters to develop cost-effective solutions. While citizen science is widely used in programs like the EU's Marine Litter Watch and NOAA's sampling in the U.S., these efforts primarily focus on macro litter, leaving gaps in M/MP data, especially in under-sampl...
Several legal acts mandate that management agencies regularly assess biological populations. For species with distinct markings, these assessments can be conducted noninvasively via capture‐recapture and photographic identification (photo‐ID), which involves processing considerable quantities of photographic data. To ease this burden, agencies incr...
In Iceland, the occurrence of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) and strandings in coastal waters are irregular and thought to be related to prey movements; however, little is known about the population’s trophic ecology, making it difficult to assess its role in the regional ecosystem. To investigate the trophic niche of the species, we...
Although killer whale (Orcinus orca) predation on humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) is rarely witnessed, resultant scars on humpback flukes provide evidence of non-lethal interactions. Humpback whale photo-identification catalogs from the North Atlantic were used to evaluate humpback flukes (n = 10,957) for the presence and severity of kille...
Investigating the movements and site fidelity of individuals enhances our understanding of population ecology and structure. Killer whales occur around the coast of Iceland; however, information on the connectivity between different regions is limited to herring grounds, where they are observed frequently. In this study, we used photo-identificatio...
Photo‐identification images of the ventral tail flukes of an individual humpback whale with calf were taken off Barbados, West Indies in March 2022. These images were matched to photographs taken in Westfjords Iceland between August–September 2022. This adult female whale had previously been documented in Northeast and Westfjords Iceland in several...
In the North Atlantic, some humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the Icelandic feeding grounds are known to migrate to the breeding grounds in the West Indies. The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) are historically considered part of the larger breeding range; however, very little humpback whale data has been reported for TCI and there have b...
Researchers can investigate many aspects of animal ecology through noninvasive photo–identification. Photo–identification is becoming more efficient as matching individuals between photos is increasingly automated. However, the convolutional neural network models that have facilitated this change need many training images to generalize well. As a r...
Anthropogenic activity has contributed to increased extinction rates, creating a need to monitor and conserve vulnerable species. Understanding the distribution and habitat preference of threatened species can identify crucial habitats, for which protection can improve the population size numbers. Here, we investigate the habitat preference of the...
Surface water samples were collected using a low-tech aquatic debris instrument (LADI) at six nearshore locations on the north and northwestern coasts of Iceland to investigate the prevalence of mesoplastic (5–10 mm) and microplastic (0.3–5 mm) in the region. This sampling strategy involved sampling each transect three times for a total of 18 sampl...
Long-finned pilot whales and killer whales are widely distributed across the North Atlantic, but few studies have reported their occurrence in Icelandic coastal waters. Here, we use sightings data from research platforms and whale watching tours in six regions of Iceland from 2007 to 2020 to show that the occurrence of long-finned pilot and killer...
In Iceland, as in many places globally, the detrimental impacts of whale interactions with fishing gear on both fisheries and whales are not well understood and managed. This study conducted anonymous questionnaires of Icelandic fishers and interviews of capelin purse seine boat captains to gather first-hand knowledge of the issues fishers face due...
Accurate reporting of cetacean bycatch in/interaction with fishing gear in fisher logbooks would be of immense scientific value; however, despite some countries having mandatory reporting laws, logbook reporting is widely considered unreliable and cetacean catches are thought to be under-reported. Despite this widespread notion of logbook unreliabi...
Mitigating cetacean entanglement in fishing gear is of global interest and strategies include the use of acoustic deterrent devices to warn whales of fishing gear. For baleen whales, responses to these devices are poorly understood. This behavioural response study compared the behaviour of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in their feeding g...
As in many oceans around the globe, there is extensive and increasing interactions between cetaceans and industries in the Arctic. The Arctic hosts 16 cetacean species (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), some of which are seasonal visitors while others are year-round inhabitants (CAFF 2017). This chapter focuses on six cetacean species on which exte...
Entanglement in fishing gear is a significant anthropogenic source of large whale injury and mortality. Although entanglements have been reported in the eastern North Atlantic, their frequency has not been previously estimated. This study used systematic scar analysis to
estimate the frequency of non-lethal entanglements among individual humpback w...
Entanglement in fishing gear, or bycatch, of cetaceans is a global issue causing thousands
of injuries and mortalities each year. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are one
of many cetacean species that become entangled, often non-lethally, in various types of
fishing gear, which has detrimental impacts on the whales and can cause damage to t...
The Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKWs) inhabit the Salish seas of Northern Washington, USA and Southern British Columbia, Canada, during the summer and fall months. These whales have been listed as endangered, and feed very selectively on threatened Chinook salmon which migrate through the area on their way back to their native streams. This s...
