“The Exploration of the Pacific”
Marine Mammal Science and Conservation
September 3, 2007 at 10:57 am · Filed under Web Stuff, Creativity, Science, Family, Conservation
You've found the website of Dave Johnston.
You can reach me at:
Duke University Marine Laboratory
135 Duke Marine Lab Rd.
Beaufort, NC 28516
252 504 7593
On these pages you'll find information about work, family, friends and other things that may interest you. Use the links at right if you need further details regarding my research projects and other work/science/conservation stuff. The search function works well.
Below you'll find updates about people, papers, projects and current events in Hawaii and elsewhere. If you still can't find what you need, email me at david.johnston(at)duke.edu
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December 11, 2007 at 8:21 pm · Filed under Science
The stars appear to have aligned. It looks like our Marine Conservation Course (offered by Duke and usually taught on Oahu) will be taught at Midway Atoll, at the far end of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands within the newly created Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Andy Read and I are the instructors for the course, and we'll be bringing 10 masters level students to Midway for 10 days to learn about marine conservation issues in this remote island chain. We'll work through seabird and coral reef conservation, and conduct active work on marine debris removal and invasive species. The Dean of the Nicholas School of the Earth Environment Sciences - Bill Chameides - will be joining us, as well as Eugene Linden, an author who works on environmental issues. Bill will lead the students in their discussion about climate variability and global change, and Eugene will lead their discussions in regards to writing about conservation issues. Both modules will be wonderful additions to the schedule.
It will be good to have Bill there. He is new to the Nicholas School, and was most recently the Chief Scientist at Environmental Defense. This NGO outfit has been extremely problematic in Hawaii. They have been pushing a no-research-in-the-monument agenda since the proclamation, and this has made it difficult for those of us involved in the science for management stream as well as those in academia. Having to go to the Land Board meeting and hear their staffer boldly mis-represent my research as "bio-prospecting" was absolutely ridiculous - not to mention a huge waste of time for everyone. The most surprising thing is that Environmental Defense was actually formed by scientists. Go figure. I'm keen to bend Bill's ear about this. Perhaps this anti-research message is simply a personnel/personality issue, as opposed to dogma at Environmental Defense.
I'm also intrigued about meeting Eugene Lindon. I bought two of his books and will hopefully crank through those this X-mas holiday season. He has written a book on climate change that looks interesting, as well as a book about intelligence and emotion in animals. He might be a good person to ask the question "What do you believe but cannot prove?"
Duke has set up a student blog for the site, you can get it here. Check back on this link in the new year to see how things are developing.
December 7, 2007 at 9:22 am · Filed under Science, Conservation, Monument
It was definitely a good week. This morning I got word from the editorial staff at the IWC office that our manuscript about odontocetes in American Samoa is accepted for publication in the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. This is great news as it will provide a good baseline for future studies as well as a tool for NMFS to move forward with listing "stocks" of cetaceans in the waters of American Samoa. Currently there are no stocks recognized for this region. It will start with spinner dolphins, as the genetics are clear enough from this paper. Next up might be Rough-toothed dolphins - Steno bredanensis.
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December 4, 2007 at 4:00 pm · Filed under Science, Conservation
So, I've been spending a lot of my spare time looking at sea ice dynamics in the North Atlantic in relation to the North Atlantic Oscillation. Ideally, this research aims to make sense of what is - and might - happen to harp seals, and other pagophilic pinnipeds, if global warming greatly effects their breeding habitats. Much of the work involves building an understanding of how decadal-scale climate variability effects sea ice availability for these animals during the breeding season. Once we've teased that out, we can start to study how longer-term or unidirectional climate change may effect these animals.
While looking at the NAO it became clear that the largely positive period during the 1980s and early 1990s was preceded by a negative stretch from the mid-1940s till the mid-70s. The most consistent portion of this negative period occurs during the late 50s and sixties. A graph illustrating the NAO and these two contrasting periods of time is below. The curve in red is a simple spline that accounts for at least 20% of the variation in the NAO data - not perfect but it gets the point across.
Considering that sea ice concentration in eastern Canada is "in phase" with the NAO (see below), it stands to reason that this period exhibited poor ice conditions (we know that 1969 is one of the worst on record), and therefore increased seal mortality. Interestingly, the harp seal population plummeted during this negative NAO period, dropping by at least 55% during 1950 to 1970. During this time seal catches were relatively high…and it seems that the combined effects of reduced sea ice and large harvests may best explain the dramatic drop in seal numbers.
Ari, Dave Lavigne and I are working on a note about this right now.
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