Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The long-term goal of my research program is to assess how environmental and anthropogenic changes impact marine mammal population dynamics and to predict how population parameters may change in the future in the face of rapid climate change and industrial development. Evolutionary advantages gained from increased reproductive rates are traded off with parental investment to increase survival of young, the age old, quantity versus quality conundrum. In the Arctic, the environment is changing at an unprecedented rate, and anthropogenic activities are increasing significantly with longer open water periods, which may make trade-offs particularly costly. Population dynamics and growth of narwhal (Monodon monoceros) and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) populations in response to environmental change, requires information on age of first reproduction and birth rates. Relatively little is known about reproductive rates in these Arctic whales globally and little and no data exists for belugas and narwhals, respectively, from populations in Canada. My research program will seek to gain new information and understanding of these critical life-history characteristics, with three main short-term objectives: 1) to improve age estimation for Arctic marine mammals and evaluate aging in the context of environmental change, 2) to evaluate temporal changes in baseline reproductive rates in narwhal and beluga whales, and 3) to assess adaptability in rates spatially and temporally for populations that vary in their conservation status, and experience varying levels of anthropogenic stress. My research program will take advantage of tissue samples collected by indigenous hunters during subsistence hunts, as part of the Marine Mammal Sampling program I lead at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, to generate information needed to directly inform government and indigenous groups on sustainable harvest levels. I will employ innovative methods to evaluate age at first reproduction and inter-birth interval for two and three populations of narwhal and beluga, respectively. Advanced aging methods (aspartic acid racemization and epigenetic aging) will be compared and contrasted to traditional methods (counting growth layer groups in teeth), while advanced methods in hormone analyses of teeth and tusks will be compared to gross morphological assessments of ovaries. Finally, photographic identification from drone photographs will be employed to evaluate calf survival, and population level age structure will be extracted from aerial and Very High-Resolution satellite imagery. My research program will use a multidisciplinary approach for evaluating temporal and spatial changes in reproductive parameters for narwhal and beluga populations across Canada, which is vital for modelling future population dynamics and assessing conservation and management strategies in Canada.