Drones, DNA, and Ocean Health: What Whale Blow Can Teach Us
Join GMGI in partnership with Ocean Alliance to understand more about the secrets whale blow can tell us about the ocean.
Whales are considered sentinel species — their health offers an early warning about the condition of ocean ecosystems. Yet today, one in four cetacean species is vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.
Join Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute (GMGI) to learn about its eight-year collaboration with Ocean Alliance (OA), a Gloucester-based nonprofit pioneering drone technology for marine mammal science. Together, GMGI and OA are using whale exhalant, or blow, collected with SnotBot®, an aptly-named drone used for noninvasive sample collection, to study whale respiratory microbiomes across multiple species and oceans. This research is building the foundation needed to track changes in the health status of whales and their ocean ecosystem over time.
Doors for this event open at 5:30pm, with the lecture beginning promptly at 6:00pm.
About our speakers:
Jennifer Polinski is a Staff Scientist and one of the organization’s longest-standing research team members. Her work has spanned all GMGI research programs, including developing reference genomes for the American lobster and Jonah crab, studying longevity in sea urchins, and leading local and international eDNA biodiversity projects
Dr. Iain Kerr is the CEO of OA, an organization recognized as an international leader in whale research and ocean conservation since its founding in 1971. Under Iain’s leadership, OA has maintained a reputation for developing innovative, benign research tools and techniques that are used by scientists and storytellers worldwide.
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Highlights
- 1 hour
- In person
- Free parking
- Doors at 5:30 PM
Location
Hammond Castle Museum
80 Hesperus Avenue
Gloucester, MA 01930
How do you want to get there?
