Southall Brandon L.

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Last Name
Southall
First Name
Brandon L.
ORCID
0000-0002-3863-2068

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  • Article
    Diving behavior and fine-scale kinematics of free-ranging Risso's dolphins foraging in shallow and deep-water habitats
    (Frontiers Media, 2019-03-12) Arranz, Patricia ; Benoit-Bird, Kelly J. ; Friedlaender, Ari S. ; Hazen, Elliott L. ; Goldbogen, Jeremy A. ; Stimpert, Alison K. ; DeRuiter, Stacy L. ; Calambokidis, John ; Southall, Brandon L. ; Fahlman, Andreas ; Tyack, Peter L.
    Air-breathing marine predators must balance the conflicting demands of oxygen conservation during breath-hold and the cost of diving and locomotion to capture prey. However, it remains poorly understood how predators modulate foraging performance when feeding at different depths and in response to changes in prey distribution and type. Here, we used high-resolution multi-sensor tags attached to Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) and concurrent prey surveys to quantify their foraging performance over a range of depths and prey types. Dolphins (N = 33) foraged in shallow and deep habitats [seabed depths less or more than 560 m, respectively] and within the deep habitat, in vertically stratified prey features occurring at several aggregation levels. Generalized linear mixed-effects models indicated that dive kinematics were driven by foraging depth rather than habitat. Bottom-phase duration and number of buzzes (attempts to capture prey) per dive increased with depth. In deep dives, dolphins were gliding for >50% of descent and adopted higher pitch angles both during descent and ascents, which was likely to reduce energetic cost of longer transits. This lower cost of transit was counteracted by the record of highest vertical swim speeds, rolling maneuvers and stroke rates at depth, together with a 4-fold increase in the inter-buzz interval (IBI), suggesting higher costs of pursuing, and handling prey compared to shallow-water feeding. In spite of the increased capture effort at depth, dolphins managed to keep their estimated overall metabolic rate comparable across dive types. This indicates that adjustments in swimming modes may enable energy balance in deeper dives. If we think of the surface as a central place where divers return to breathe, our data match predictions that central place foragers should increase the number and likely quality of prey items at greater distances. These dolphins forage efficiently from near-shore benthic communities to depth-stratified scattering layers, enabling them to maximize their fitness.
  • Article
    Understanding the combined effects of multiple stressors: a new perspective on a longstanding challenge
    (Elsevier, 2022-01-29) Pirotta, Enrico ; Thomas, Len ; Costa, Daniel P. ; Hall, Ailsa J. ; Harris, Catriona M. ; Harwood, John ; Kraus, Scott D. ; Miller, Patrick J. O. ; Moore, Michael J. ; Photopoulou, Theoni ; Rolland, Rosalind M. ; Schwacke, Lori ; Simmons, Samantha E. ; Southall, Brandon L. ; Tyack, Peter L.
    Wildlife populations and their habitats are exposed to an expanding diversity and intensity of stressors caused by human activities, within the broader context of natural processes and increasing pressure from climate change. Estimating how these multiple stressors affect individuals, populations, and ecosystems is thus of growing importance. However, their combined effects often cannot be predicted reliably from the individual effects of each stressor, and we lack the mechanistic understanding and analytical tools to predict their joint outcomes. We review the science of multiple stressors and present a conceptual framework that captures and reconciles the variety of existing approaches for assessing combined effects. Specifically, we show that all approaches lie along a spectrum, reflecting increasing assumptions about the mechanisms that regulate the action of single stressors and their combined effects. An emphasis on mechanisms improves analytical precision and predictive power but could introduce bias if the underlying assumptions are incorrect. A purely empirical approach has less risk of bias but requires adequate data on the effects of the full range of anticipated combinations of stressor types and magnitudes. We illustrate how this spectrum can be formalised into specific analytical methods, using an example of North Atlantic right whales feeding on limited prey resources while simultaneously being affected by entanglement in fishing gear. In practice, case-specific management needs and data availability will guide the exploration of the stressor combinations of interest and the selection of a suitable trade-off between precision and bias. We argue that the primary goal for adaptive management should be to identify the most practical and effective ways to remove or reduce specific combinations of stressors, bringing the risk of adverse impacts on populations and ecosystems below acceptable thresholds.
  • Article
    Beaked whales respond to simulated and actual navy sonar
    (Public Library of Science, 2011-03-14) Tyack, Peter L. ; Zimmer, Walter M. X. ; Moretti, David J. ; Southall, Brandon L. ; Claridge, Diane E. ; Durban, John W. ; Clark, Christopher W. ; D'Amico, Angela ; DiMarzio, Nancy A. ; Jarvis, Susan ; McCarthy, Elena ; Morrissey, Ronald ; Ward, Jessica ; Boyd, Ian L.
    Beaked whales have mass stranded during some naval sonar exercises, but the cause is unknown. They are difficult to sight but can reliably be detected by listening for echolocation clicks produced during deep foraging dives. Listening for these clicks, we documented Blainville's beaked whales, Mesoplodon densirostris, in a naval underwater range where sonars are in regular use near Andros Island, Bahamas. An array of bottom-mounted hydrophones can detect beaked whales when they click anywhere within the range. We used two complementary methods to investigate behavioral responses of beaked whales to sonar: an opportunistic approach that monitored whale responses to multi-day naval exercises involving tactical mid-frequency sonars, and an experimental approach using playbacks of simulated sonar and control sounds to whales tagged with a device that records sound, movement, and orientation. Here we show that in both exposure conditions beaked whales stopped echolocating during deep foraging dives and moved away. During actual sonar exercises, beaked whales were primarily detected near the periphery of the range, on average 16 km away from the sonar transmissions. Once the exercise stopped, beaked whales gradually filled in the center of the range over 2–3 days. A satellite tagged whale moved outside the range during an exercise, returning over 2–3 days post-exercise. The experimental approach used tags to measure acoustic exposure and behavioral reactions of beaked whales to one controlled exposure each of simulated military sonar, killer whale calls, and band-limited noise. The beaked whales reacted to these three sound playbacks at sound pressure levels below 142 dB re 1 µPa by stopping echolocation followed by unusually long and slow ascents from their foraging dives. The combined results indicate similar disruption of foraging behavior and avoidance by beaked whales in the two different contexts, at exposures well below those used by regulators to define disturbance.
  • Article
    An International Quiet Ocean Experiment
    (Oceanography Society, 2011-06) Boyd, Ian L. ; Frisk, George V. ; Urban, Edward ; Tyack, Peter L. ; Ausubel, Jesse ; Seeyave, Sphie ; Cato, Doug ; Southall, Brandon L. ; Weise, Michael ; Andrew, Rex K. ; Akamatsu, Tomonari ; Dekeling, Rene ; Erbe, Christine ; Farmer, David M. ; Gentry, Roger ; Gross, Thomas F. ; Hawkins, Anthony D. ; Li, Fenghua ; Metcalf, Kathy ; Miller, James H. ; Moretti, David J. ; Rodrigo, Cristian ; Shinke, Tomio
    The effect of noise on marine life is one of the big unknowns of current marine science. Considerable evidence exists that the human contribution to ocean noise has increased during the past few decades: human noise has become the dominant component of marine noise in some regions, and noise is directly correlated with the increasing industrialization of the ocean. Sound is an important factor in the lives of many marine organisms, and theory and increasing observations suggest that human noise could be approaching levels at which negative effects on marine life may be occurring. Certain species already show symptoms of the effects of sound. Although some of these effects are acute and rare, chronic sublethal effects may be more prevalent, but are difficult to measure. We need to identify the thresholds of such effects for different species and be in a position to predict how increasing anthropogenic sound will add to the effects. To achieve such predictive capabilities, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) are developing an International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE), with the objective of coordinating the international research community to both quantify the ocean soundscape and examine the functional relationship between sound and the viability of key marine organisms. SCOR and POGO will convene an open science meeting to gather community input on the important research, observations, and modeling activities that should be included in IQOE.
  • Article
    Managing the effects of multiple stressors on wildlife populations in their ecosystems: developing a cumulative risk approach
    (The Royal Society, 2022-11-30) Tyack, Peter L. ; Thomas, Len ; Costa, Daniel P. ; Hall, Ailsa J. ; Harris, Catriona M. ; Harwood, John ; Kraus, Scott D. ; Miller, Patrick J. O. ; Moore, Michael ; Photopoulou, Theoni ; Pirotta, Enrico ; Rolland, Rosalind M. ; Schwacke, Lori H. ; Simmons, Samantha E. ; Southall, Brandon L.
    Assessing cumulative effects of human activities on ecosystems is required by many jurisdictions, but current science cannot meet regulatory demands. Regulations define them as effect(s) of one human action combined with other actions. Here we argue for an approach that evaluates the cumulative risk of multiple stressors for protected wildlife populations within their ecosystems. Monitoring effects of each stressor is necessary but not sufficient to estimate how multiple stressors interact to affect wildlife populations. Examining the mechanistic pathways, from cellular to ecological, by which stressors affect individuals can help prioritize stressors and interpret how they interact. Our approach uses health indicators to accumulate the effects of stressors on individuals and to estimate changes in vital rates, driving population status. We advocate using methods well-established in human health and integrating them into ecosystem-based management to protect the health of commercially and culturally important wildlife populations and to protect against risk of extinction for threatened species. Our approach will improve abilities to conserve and manage ecosystems but will also demand significant increases in research and monitoring effort. We advocate for increased investment proportional to the economic scale of human activities in the Anthropocene and their pervasive effects on ecology and biodiversity.