Category: Spinner dolphins

“A Sea of Sound” Lesson Plan Published

Demi Fox, Julia Goss, Liza Hoos and I are proud to announce that our Lesson Plan called “A Sea of Sound” has been published in the new ALA Editions e-book, “Tablet Computers in School Libraries and Classrooms.”  According to an American Library Association press release, the book “speaks directly to librarians and educators working with…
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Sound in the Sea Day Success

On, April 17th, 164 Morehead City Middle School 6th grade students and their teachers and chaperones descended on the Duke Marine Lab for a day of learning about Sound in the Sea. The motivation behind Sound in the Sea Day was to give students outside the classroom experiences that connect to inside the classroom concepts,…
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New paper on Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin Abundance

I’m happy to announce the publication of the first quantitative abundance estimate for spinner dolphins on the Kona Coast of Hawaii Island. This work, led by Julian Tyne and part of the joint Duke/Murdoch SAPPHIRE project provides managers much needed information for managing human effects on this species in Hawaii. This newly identified stock of…
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Apps, Articles and the Flexibility of the Nicholas School of the Environment

It has been a busy couple of weeks for the Johnston Lab, with the ‘publication’ of two products that have arisen from student projects in the Nicholas School’s Masters of Environmental Management Program. These two products (described in greater detail below) are at nearly opposite ends of the publication spectrum – one is a scientific…
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The Nai‘a Guide Released on iTunes

A new iPad app that has been in the works for the past year is now available on the iTunes App Store!  Whether you are planning a trip to the Hawaiian Islands or just want to learn more about the charismatic mammals that call the coastal waters of Hawai‘i home, The Nai‘a Guide can demonstrate…
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“Holy Humpback” of a Day!

At this moment three quarters of “The Spinnerettes” are in Kona, Hawai’i assisting with fieldwork as a part of the Spinner Dolphin Acoustics and Population Parameters Research (SAPPHIRE) Project. The project started in the summer of 2010 to study the spinner dolphins using a suite of techniques including photo-identification, focal follows and behavioral sampling, acoustics…
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Spinner article in Natural History magazine!

More great news on the heels of our return from the deep south, Heather Heenehan has just published an Endpaper piece in Natural History magazine about her work on spinner dolphin acoustics as part of our SAPPHIRE project in Hawaii. I’m really excited about this, because it’s a great example of how our research team…
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Two Johnston Lab projects featured in latest Duke Environment Magazine

[photo size=’small’ align=’right’]http://superpod.ml.duke.edu/johnston/files/2011/02/NtN_story_spinners.jpg[/photo]Just a brief update to point people towards a couple of features in the Nicholas School Magazine – Duke Environment. These stories cover two recent papers stemming from long-term collaborative projects in the Johnston lab. The first is coverage of our recent paper in PLoS ONE that addresses habitat for resting spinner dolphins…
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New Lab Project: Lesson plan chosen for new book about iPads in classrooms

About a month ago I got an email from my sister Kaitlin about a call for lesson plan and chapter proposals for an ALA Editions book called Tablet Computers in School Libraries and Classrooms. She is studying Higher Education Administration at Virginia Tech and one of the editors of the book, Heather Moorefield-Lang, a librarian…
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Artifacts of learning in marine science and conservation

We recently released a novel website focused on the evolution of science and management of spinner dolphins in Hawaii – the Norris to Now Timeline. The website takes the form of an interactive chronicle of some (clearly not all!) of the scientific, managerial and cultural events that have shaped our understanding of spinner dolphins in…
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All bays are not created equal: Predicting spinner dolphin resting habitat

Coastal spinner dolphins in Hawaii, and elsewhere in the world, rely on sheltered bays for rest. These inshore locations provide an opportunity for dolphins to recover energetically and cognitively during daylight hours after extended nighttime foraging bouts, while minimizing predation risk. This behavioral trait often beings them into close contact with humans involved in dolphin-based…
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Abstracts for Upcoming Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals

Our lab has several abstracts accepted for presentation at the upcoming 19th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals. The conference is being held in Tampa, FL during November 28 to December 2, 2011. The theme of the conference is: “Cumulative effects of threats to marine mammals: Challenges to animals, scientists, and managers.” The…
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Fish-Eye View of Acoustic Logger

We got an email this week from Jeff Kuwabara, the coordinator of the Marine Options Program at UH. He and his group of scientific divers have been training in several of the bays that our SAPPHIRE project is also working in. During some bottom-time in Hookena, Jeff snapped some pics of one of our acoustic loggers…
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From Norris to Now: Comparing historic and present-day spinner dolphin research

Hi folks, Heather Heenehan here. I’m a Duke CEM student working with the Johnston lab. For the past year I have been involved in the SAPPHIRE Project – Spinner Dolphin Acoustics, Population Parameters and Human Impacts Research. This project, based in Hawaii, is a joint effort between Duke University and Murdoch University. As the project…
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New boat for spinner dolphin project in Hawaii

[dropcap4 color=”green”]I[/dropcap4]t’s official, we are now the proud owners of a new (at least to us) small boat for our work in Hawaii. The boat, which is currently without a name, is a 22 foot fibreglass vessel built by C-Dory, a Washington state company. She’s an odd looking boat for Hawaii in some ways, but…
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