Emma Carroll

University of Auckland · School of Biological Sciences

Variation in reproductive success is a fundamental prerequisite for sexual selection to act upon a trait. Assessing such variation is crucial in understanding a species’ mating system and offers insights into population growth. Parentage analyses in cetaceans are rare, and the underlying forces of sexual selection acting on their mating behaviours...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a commonly used management tool to safeguard marine life from anthropogenic impacts, yet their efficacy often remains untested. Evaluating how highly dynamic marine species use static MPAs is challenging but becoming more feasible with the advancement of telemetry data. Here, we focus on southern right whales (Euba...

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) are globally distributed cetaceans, often found in deep oceanic waters but occasionally near coastlines. Despite their broad distribution, information on their abundance, genetics, and ecology remains limited. In New Zealand waters, these whales occur year-round, with increased sightings during the warmer...

Off Australia, southern right whales (Eubalaena australis; SRWs) breed, give birth and nurse in shallow, coastal waters over the cooler months (~May/Jun to ~Oct/Nov). After which, whales migrate into the Southern Ocean to feed during the warmer months. The aim was to investigate i) coastal breeding within-season movements, ii) modern-day foraging g...

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a highly polymorphic gene family that is crucial in immunity, and its diversity can be effectively used as a fitness marker for populations. Despite this, MHC remains poorly characterised in non‐model species (e.g., cetaceans: whales, dolphins and porpoises) as high gene copy number variation, especiall...

We report the first record of Ramari's beaked whale ( Mesoplodon eueu ) from the temperate Southwestern Atlantic. Our analysis is based on an adult female and a plausibly associated calf/juvenile that stranded on the coast of Canelones Department, Uruguay. The species of the two individuals was identified via a combination of morphometric and molec...

Sprogis, KR, EL Carroll, R Harcourt, D Lierich, T Button. 2023. Making tracks in warming waters. Landscope Magazine, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and WA Naturally. Vol 39/No 2 Summer, 37-41 pages. Perth, Western Australia.

The sub‐Antarctic waters of South Georgia Island (Islas Georgias del Sur, SG/IG) are a regularly visited feeding ground for southern right whales ( Eubalaena australis , SRW) in the southwest Atlantic. Satellite telemetry and photo‐identification records were compared to better understand the role of SG/IG in the SRW migratory network. We present t...

The Mirnong Maat project: research on southern right whales

Male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sing a long, stereotyped, and culturally transmitted song display. While song likely functions in sexual selection, whether it is primarily directed at females and/or males is still debated. Most males within a single population sing the same, slowly evolving song type. However, multiple humpback whale...

While a variety of reproductive tactics are readily witnessed in odontocetes, such behaviors can be far more elusive in baleen whales and in some cases are yet to be observed. This leads researchers to study the reproductive behaviors in mysticetes using a variety of research methods which have improved greatly in recent years. Genetics and genomic...

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...

The north coast of the South Island, Aotearoa New Zealand, is a region with complex bathymetry and biogeochemistry, where oceanographic variability gives rise to very different local environments at fine scales. This variation also influences the region’s isoscape, providing the ability to assess the fine-scale foraging behaviour of top-level marin...

Southern right whales (SRW: Eubalaena australis) aggregate in large numbers off the coast of Western Australian (WA) during winter months to calve and breed. However, where the whales travel to forage, and pathways taken on their journeys to these offshore foraging grounds, are still poorly understood. To examine these large-scale migrations, satel...

Fin whales Balaenoptera physalus were hunted unsustainably across the globe in the 19th and 20th centuries, leading to vast reductions in population size. Whaling catch records indicate the importance of the Southern Ocean for this species; approximately 730,000 fin whales were harvested during the 20th century in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) alone...

Assessing environmental changes in Southern Ocean ecosystems is difficult due to its remoteness and data sparsity. Monitoring marine predators that respond rapidly to environmental variation may enable us to track anthropogenic effects on ecosystems. Yet, many long-term datasets of marine predators are incomplete because they are spatially constrai...

The identification of discrete intraspecific units, such as genetically informed management units (MUs), is important to effectively develop and implement conservation strategies for protected species. Harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) occurring in Irish waters are currently viewed as a single nationwide panmictic population (and hence MU), although...

Carroll, E. L., R. Harcourt, K. R. Sprogis, H. Raudino, K. Waples, and S. Bell. 2022. Migration mysteries: Solving the puzzle of southern right whales’ migration. Landscope Magazine. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and WA Naturally. Vol 38/2, 28-33 pages. Perth, Western Australia. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14423.14241. (https:/...

Following their near extirpation by industrial whaling of the 20th century, the population status of Southern Hemisphere fin whales (SHFW) remains unknown. Systematic surveys estimating fin whale abundance in the Southern Ocean are not yet available. Records of fin whale sightings have been collected by a variety of organisations over the past few...

The identification of patterns in trait evolution is essential to understand the interaction of evolutionary forces, and provides useful information for species management. Cetaceans are a phylogenetically well-resolved infraorder that exhibit distinct trait variation across behavioral, molecular, and life history dimensions, yet few researchers ha...

The emergence of high resolution population genetic techniques, such as genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), in combination with recent advances in particle modelling of larval dispersal in marine organisms, can deliver powerful new insights to support fisheries conservation and management. In this study, we used this combination to investigate the popu...

The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on Earth, yet little is known about the processes driving patterns of genetic diversity in its inhabitants. Here, we investigated the macro- and microevolutionary processes shaping genomic population structure and diversity in two poorly understood, globally distributed, deep-sea predators: Cuvier’s beaked whal...

Changes in habitat availability and prey abundance are predicted to adversely influence survival and reproduction of wildlife in the Southern Ocean. Some populations of southern right whale (SRW; Eubalaena australis) are showing dramatic changes in habitat use. Surveys were undertaken in the austral winters of 2020 and 2021 at the key nursery and s...

A key goal of the Society for Marine Mammalogy is the effective communication of scientific information, and its broader societal implications, to a range of audiences. This is conducted in the 'universal language of science', English, which allows scientists to communicate ideas and permits access to a huge body of scientific knowledge. However, o...

Understanding the foraging ecology of animals gives insights into their trophic relationships and habitat use. We used stable isotope analysis to understand the foraging ecology of a critically endangered marine predator, the Māui dolphin. We analysed carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of skin samples (n = 101) collected from 1993 to 2021 to invest...

The evolutionary response to long-term exploitation results in substantial changes in the demography of a population and can drive traits away from their naturally selected evolutionary optima. Little is known about how demographic processes resulting from commercial whaling shaped patterns of sexual selection in baleen whales across time, and what...

Culture, the sharing of behaviors or information within a community acquired through some form of social learning from conspecifics, represents a “second inheritance system”. This assertion, while still controversial, is a clear indication that culture and the study of social learning in animals is no longer a taboo subject. Some of the strongest e...

GeneticsGeneticsand genomicsEcological genomics tools are providing unprecedented insights into the hidden social lives of baleen whales, from parentageParentage to diet to defining population segments. GeneticGenetics information reveals simple yet critical information about individual whales, from their sex to their age to their kin. Integrating...

Social media content is increasingly being validated and used as a valuable source of data within conservation science. Metadata obtained from social networking sites (SNS) can supplement knowledge and data gaps in traditional ecological monitoring programs by increasing the spatiotemporal extent of sampling. Here we consider SNS in the context of...

Historical exploitation, and a combination of current anthropogenic impacts, such as climate change and habitat degradation, impact the population dynamics of marine mammalian megafauna. Right whales (Eubalaena spp.) are large cetaceans recovering from hunting, whose reproductive and population growth rate appear to be impacted by climate change. W...

The application of Very-High-Resolution (VHR) satellites to survey cetaceans has gained considerable tractionover the last decade. Large whale species in particular lend themselves to detection by VHR imagery of ~0.50mresolution or less. Processing of satellite images can be manually intensive, and consequently artificial intelligencemethods are un...

Our understanding of the genetic connectivity of manta ray populations and the drivers that shape genetic structure is still limited. This information is crucial to identify the spatial boundaries of discrete populations and guide decisions on units to conserve. In this study, we use genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to assess the...

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are showing strong recovery from commercial whaling in the western South Atlantic. In this region, humpback whales migrate annually from their winter breeding grounds off the coast of Brazil to their summer feeding grounds near to the Polar Front, an area that includes the waters of South Georgia and the Sou...

The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is the most widely distributed pinniped, occupying a wide variety of habitats and climatic zones across the Northern Hemisphere. Intriguingly, the harbour seal is also one of the most philopatric seals, raising questions as to how it colonised virtually the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. To shed light on the ori...

Large filter-feeding animals are potential sentinels for understanding the extent of microplastic pollution, as their mode of foraging and prey mean they are continuously sampling the environment. However, there is considerable uncertainty about the total and mode of exposure (environmental vs trophic). Here, we explore microplastic exposure and in...

Abstract available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The deep sea has been described as the last major ecological frontier, as much of its biodiversity is yet to be discovered and described. Beaked whales (ziphiids) are among the most visible inhabitants of the deep sea, due to their large size and worldwide distribution, and their taxonomic div...

Abstract available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The deep sea has been described as the last major ecological frontier, as much of its biodiversity is yet to be discovered and described. Beaked whales (ziphiids) are among the most visible inhabitants of the deep sea, due to their large size and worldwide distribution, and their taxonomic dive...

https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/conservation/native-animals/marine-mammals/maui-hectors-dolphins/maui-abundance/maui-dolphin-abundance-2021.pdf

Southern right whales (SRW) are capital breeders that use stored energy reserves to sustain themselves and their calves on nursery areas. With successful calving events declining in some SRW populations, it has been hypothesized that nutritional stress in adult females causes reproductive failure or death of calves shortly after birth. Here we comp...

Southern right whale vocalizations were recorded concurrently with visual observations off the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia, and the characteristics of these calls were described. Calls were also compared to those of humpback whales at South Georgia, to determine how the two species might reliably be distinguished acoustically. The souther...

A key goal of conservation is to protect biodiversity by supporting the long-term persistence of viable, natural populations of wild species. Conservation practice has long been guided by genetic, ecological and demographic indicators of risk. Emerging evidence of animal culture across diverse taxa and its role as a driver of evolutionary diversifi...

The massive impact that open-boat historical whaling (18th to 20th centuries) had on whale populations has been traditionally estimated from records of oil and baleen plate production. However, an unknown proportion of hunted whales were struck, wounded, eventually killed, but lost, and not included in these records, suggesting that whaling impact...

Rapid anthropogenic environmental change is expected to impact a host of ecological parameters in Southern Ocean ecosystems. Of critical concern are the consequences of these changes on the range of species that show fidelity to migratory destinations , as philopatry is hypothesized to help or hinder adaptation to climate change depending on the ci...

Around 176500 whales were killed in the sub-Antarctic waters off South Georgia (South Atlantic) between 1904 and 1965. In recent decades, whales have once again become summer visitors, with the southern right whale (SRW) the most commonly reported species until 2011. Here, we assess the distribution, temporal pattern, health status and likely prey...

Microplastics receive significant societal and scientific attention due to increasing concerns about their impact on the environment and human health. Marine mammals are considered indicators for marine ecosystem health and many species are of conservation concern due to a multitude of anthropogenic stressors. Marine mammals may be vulnerable to mi...

Report of the August 2020 expedition to the Auckland Islands Maungahuka to study the recovery and feeding ecology of southern right whales tohorā (Eubalaena australis)

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231577.].

Metapopulation theory assumes a balance between local decays/extinctions and local growth/new colonisations. Here we investigate whether recent population declines across part of the UK harbour seal range represent normal metapopulation dynamics or are indicative of perturbations potentially threatening the metapopulation viability, using 20 years...

Over 170,000 whales were killed in the sub-Antarctic waters of South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur, SG, South Atlantic) from 1904 to 1965. In recent decades, whales are regular summer visitors, with the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) and humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliea) most commonly reported. A 23-day cetacean survey was condu...

Report of the Workshop. Please use the following citation: Carroll EL, Charlton C, Vermeulen E, Clarke P and J. A. Jackson (Eds). 2020. Roadmap to success for the International Whaling Commission - Southern Ocean Research Partnership (IWC-SORP) Theme 6 - the Right Sentinel for Climate Change: linking southern right whale foraging ecology to demogra...

Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) migrate between Austral-winter calving and socialising grounds to offshore mid- to high latitude Austral-summer feeding grounds. In Australasia, winter calving grounds used by southern right whales extend from Western Australia across southern Australia to the New Zealand sub-Antarctic Islands. During the...

As species recover from exploitation, continued assessments of connectivity and population structure are warranted to provide information for conservation and management. This is particularly true in species with high dispersal capacity, such as migratory whales, where patterns of connectivity could change rapidly. Here we build on a previous long-...

Inferring and quantifying recent barriers to connectivity is increasingly important for conservation and management in a world undergoing rapid environmental change. Traditional measures of genetic differentiation can take many generations to reflect a new barrier to connectivity. Although methods that use the linkage disequilibrium signal in mixed...

Understanding the rich social lives of animals benefits international conservation efforts

All three extant right whales [Eubalaena australis (Southern; SRW), glacialis (North Atlantic; NARW), and japonica (North Pacific; NPRW)] were heavily exploited, and the status of the two northern hemisphere species remains precarious. Recently, limited gains made by the NARW have been reversed and urgent changes to management approaches are needed...

Until the 1990s, beaked whales were one of the least understood groups of large mammals. Information on northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus) and Baird’s beaked whales (Berardius bairdii) was available from data collected during whaling, however, little information existed on the smaller species other than occasional data gleaned from...

To understand the ecosystem dynamics that underpin the year-round presence of a large generalist consumer, the Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni brydei), we use a DNA metabarcoding approach and systematic zooplankton surveys to investigate seasonal and regional changes in zooplankton communities and if whale diet reflects such changes. Twenty-four...