The Dolphin Ecology Project

The Dolphin Ecology Project is a organization dedicated to establishing baseline data on dolphin populations in the FL Keys.

The goal is to develop a complete picture of the relationship between ecosystem health and habitat use by the dolphins. Since beginning field work in late 1998, researchers have compiled a photo ID catalog of 42 individuals identified by marking and scar patterns.

Bottlenose dolphins life throughout the world's oceans and occur in shallow coastal waters and offshore. While bottlenose dolphins have been well studied in certain areas, virtually nothing is known about the dolphins in the Florida Keys.

Dolphin Ecology Project, P.O. Box 1142, Key Largo, FL 33037, (305) 852-0649.

Research Mission: Defining bottlenose dolphin ecology to aid in dolphin conservation

DATES IN THE FIELD:

Team IV: Jan 4-17, 2004
Team V: Feb 15-28, 2004
Team VI: Mar 14-27, 2004
Team VII: Apr 11-24, 2004
Team VIII: May 9-22, 2004
Team IX: Jun 13-26, 2004
Team X: Jul 11-24, 2004
Team XI: Aug 8-21, 2004
Team XII: Sep 12-25, 2004
Team XIII: Oct 10-23, 2004
Team XIV: Nov 7-20, 2004
Team XV: Dec 5-18, 2004

SHARE OF COSTS:

Team IV: $1,960
Teams V-XV: $1,895; £1,260; $A2,995; ¥208

Sarasota, Florida - There are some bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Sarasota population that Dr. Randy Wells and co-leaders Sue Hofmann and Jason Allen (all with The Chicago Zoological Society and based at Mote Marine Laboratory) have observed and recorded more than 800 times. Much of what we know about bottlenose dolphin society and impacts from human activities comes from the hallmark studies of these three researchers and their colleagues and students. You can help this team in the longest-running wild-dolphin research program in the world.

Wells has directed a multidisciplinary study of the 140-odd dolphins in this bay for 33 years, 22 with Earthwatch teams. His team has gathered data on dolphin distribution, population structure, ecology, and social behavior, in the process, writing the book on dolphin society and providing a model for long-term dolphin studies across the planet. With the recent advent of large-scale dolphin die-offs around the world, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program has expanded its research to include the effects of environmental contaminants and other human impacts, such as increased boat traffic, on dolphin health and behavior. The scientists want “to proactively assess the health and well-being of dolphins while they’re still alive, and while something can be done to help them,” says Wells.

Earthwatch teams help monitor the dolphins by noting their activities, companions, and body condition and by tracking the distribution and dynamics of the dolphin community. Aboard a six-meter outboard, you will typically encounter several different schools of dolphins a day and help count individuals, monitor calves and boat traffic, and fill out photo logs and data sheets.

Field Conditions: Home is a simple but comfortable two-bedroom, two-bath, second-floor apartment across the street from a beach, perfect for walks or sea bird sightings, and within biking distance of Mote (bikes provided). Everyone pitches in on meals on a rotating basis.

For more information about this project, download the Expedition Briefing Adobe Acrobat format

Dolphin Societies:
Discoveries and Puzzles
Karen Pryor + Kenneth S. Norris (editors)
University of California Press 1991

As a collection of scientific papers, Dolphin Societies has its drawbacks for the general reader. The lack of an introduction to basic dolphin ecology and biology limits accessibility and some of the material is on the technical side: details of theodolite tracking, aerial photography, and spectrograph analysis, for example. The core ideas of the papers are not complex, however, and there is plenty in Dolphin Societies that will be of broad interest.

Seven of the papers are studies of dolphin behaviour in the wild, covering herd structure, hunting, and play in Black Sea bottlenose dolphins; dolphin near-shore movement patterns; killer whale feeding ecology; killer whale interaction with boats; spinner dolphin behaviour in tuna nets before being released; long-term changes in a bottlenose dolphin community; and structure in large oceanic dolphin schools. Two papers report on laboratory studies: using teeth to track dolphin age and life-cycle events and using evidence from reproductive organs to assess the importance of post-reproductive female pilot whales. Studies of captive dolphins look at aggression and homosexual interaction between two male bottlenose dolphins, the cognitive abilities of dolphins and the extent of their knowledge of the world, "signature" whistles, and the psychoacoustics of dolphin echolocation.

No attempt is made to fit the papers into an overarching theoretical structure. Some short essays by Pryor and Norris do, however, set them in their in broader context, touching on methodological issues and the history of marine mammal science. Dolphin Societies gives a good feel for how much progress has been made in understanding cetacean behaviour, but it also highlights how far behind it lags work on other animals. More sophisticated technology and methodological insights from broader ethology will provide solutions to existing puzzles and new vistas for exploration.

Dolphin Societies
Discoveries and Puzzles
Pryor, Karen
Norris, Kenneth S.
University of California Press
Berkeley
1991
paperback, index
ISBN 0-520-21656-3
vi,397pp

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Actual programs for adopt Dolphin or Whale

Would you like to adopt a whale or dolphin? Following are one or more dolphin and whale adoption programs. Most provide a certificate, photo, chart, and quarterly newsletter. Check out the following web sites and contact the organizations if there is one for more information about the programs.

»The Whale and Dolphin Adoption Project«

»Delivery UK wide; The Adopt a Dolphin pack«

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