Charla: «Movements of Marine Megafauna Determine Their Vulnerability to Anthropogenic Stressors and Climate Change»

Cuándo: Jueves 30 de junio de 2022
Horario: 15:00 hrs.
Modalidad: Online, a través de Zoom y Facebook Live
Organizado por: CAPES y APECS

CAPES y APECS tienen el agrado de invitarles a la conferencia «Movements of Marine Megafauna Determine Their Vulnerability to Anthropogenic Stressors and Climate Change», dictada por el Dr. Daniel P. Costa, director del Departamento de Ecología y Biología Evolutiva y profesor distinguido de la Universidad de California Santa Cruz, Estados Unidos.

El profesor Costa es un destacado ecofisiólogo con más de 650 publicaciones científicas y colaboraciones con investigadores de todo el mundo. Entre sus múltiples líneas de investigación su principal interés se centra en la conexión entre la fisiología de mamíferos marinos y su conducta. Ha trabajado con casi todos los mamíferos marinos del mundo y en casi todas las temáticas: biodiversidad y conservación, cambio climático, termorregulación, bioacústica, ecolocalización, dinámica poblacional entre otros. Ha explorado los océanos de polo a polo y en las últimas semanas estuvo en una expedición de investigación en la Antártica estudiando focas cangrejeras. 

La conferencia, que será en inglés sin traducción simultánea, se realizará vía Zoom el jueves 30 de junio a las 15:00 horas.

Están invitados a inscribirse en el mail [email protected], indicando en el Asunto: Charla Prof. Dan Costa. Se les enviará un correo con el link a la conferencia con aprox. 30 minutos de anticipación.

Resumen de la conferencia


«Movements of Marine Megafauna Determine Their Vulnerability to Anthropogenic Stressors and Climate Change»

Daniel P. Costa, Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz.

The movements of marine megafauna vary relative to the three-dimensional environment in which they live. We can infer a lot from their horizontal movements as they reflect regions where animals forage from regions that animals are transiting. Across species, horizontal movements range from tens of kilometers over their lifetime to species that migrate over tens of thousands of kilometers each year. While absolutely shorter, vertical movements are more physiologically challenging. Variation in body size is an implicit component of horizontal and vertical movements as larger animals can move greater distances and make deeper dives. Studies of how marine vertebrates move provide insight into these organisms’ fundamental biology and are also essential to their conservation. This seminar will examine marine vertebrates’ migratory and diving behavior to show the relevance of research at the interface between physiology and ecology.

Marine Protected Areas have been proposed as a conservation tool for protection. However, while the characteristics of MPAs appropriate for marine invertebrate species has been considered, the issues surrounding the development of MPAs for highly migratory species is only just being considered The potential risk (sensitivity and exposure) to individuals within a population will vary in response to how they move in space and time. Some species move throughout their species range whereas others cover only a very small proportion of the species range. Some highly migratory species have foraging areas that are spatially distinct from their breeding areas, which are then connected by migration. Movement patterns are therefore critical to provide insight into the proportion of the population that would be protected within a specific MPA and which activity (i.e., feeding, migrating, and breeding) would be protected.