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Our lab investigates how the mammalian body
is functionally adapted to the marine environment. My students,
colleagues and I have focused much of our work on musculoskeletal
design and thermoregulatory function in cetaceans (whales, dolphins
and porpoises). We utilize stranded marine mammals in our research,
and employ quantitative morphology techniques, image analysis, and
new tools emerging from the field of biomechanics, to pose hypotheses
about animal function. We then test these hypotheses, using non-invasive
research methods, with wild and captive marine mammals at many sites
around the world. The marriage of anatomical and physiological studies
has permitted us to gain insight into the evolution of marine mammals
by helping to elucidate those morphological features required to
survive in the aquatic environment.
We, along with colleagues at North Carolina State University, Duke
University Marine Lab, National Marine Fisheries Service, North
Carolina Maritime Museum, and Virginia Marine Science Museum, are
also working cooperatively to develop long-term, interdisciplinary
studies of our local marine mammal species. The goal of these efforts
is to better understand the biology of these species so as to ensure
their conservation. Nowhere is there a more compelling need for
such a program than in the mid-Atlantic, because our coastal waters
are a critical habitat for a number of threatened or endangered
cetacean species. Techniques we use include shore-based and aerial
survey methods, as well as investigation of strandings, which are
beached live or dead marine mammals. Please feel free to browse our Marine Mammal Stranding Program website.
Rommel, S.A., A.M. Costidis, A.J.F. Fernandez, P.D. Jepson, D.A. Pabst, W.A. McLellan, D.S. Houser, T.W. Cranford, A.L. van Helden, D.M. Allen, and N.B. Barros. 2006. Elements of beaked whale anatomy and diving physiology, and some hypothetical causes of sonar-related stranding. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. 7(3):189-209.
Dunkin, R.C., McLellan, W.A., Blum, J. and D.A. Pabst. 2005. Ontogenetic changes in the thermal properties of Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) blubber. Journal of Experimental Biology. 208:1469 -1480.
Torres, L.G., McLellan, W.A., Meagher, E.M., and D.A. Pabst. 2005. Seasonal distribution and relative abundance of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, along the US mid-Atlantic Coast. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management.7(2):153-161.
Hamilton, J.H., Dillaman, R.D., McLellan, W.A. and D.A. Pabst. 2004. Structural fiber reinforcement of keel blubber in harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Journal of Morphology.261:105-117.
Etnier, S.A., Dearolf, J.L., McLellan, W.A. and D.A.Pabst. 2004. Postural role of lateral axial muscles in developing bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B. 271:909-918.
Struntz, D.J., McLellan, W.A., Dillaman, R.M., Blum, J.E., Kucklick, J.R. and D.A. Pabst. 2004. Blubber development in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Journal of Morphology.259:7-20.
Thayer, V. G., Read, A. J., Colby, D. R., Friedlaender, A. S., Hohn, A. A., McLellan, W. A., Pabst, D. A., Dearolf, J.L., Bowles, N. I., Russell, J. R. and K.A. Rittmaster. 2003. Reproductive seasonality of western Atlantic bottlenose dolphins off North Carolina, USA. Marine Mammal Science. 19(4):617-629.
Friedlaender, A.S., McLellan, W.A., and Pabst, D.A. 2002. Characterizing an interaction between coastal bottlenose dolphins and the spot gillnet fishery in southeastern North Carolina, U.S.A. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. 3(3):293-303.
Kipps, E.K., McLellan, W.A., Rommel, S.A. and D.A. Pabst. 2002. Skin density and its influence on buoyancy in the manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Marine Mammal Science. 18(3):765-778.
McLellan, W.A., Koopman, H.N., Rommel, S.A., Read, A.J., Potter, C.W., Westgate, A.J., and D.A. Pabst. 2002. Ontogenetic allometry and body composition of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena, L.) from the western North Atlantic. Journal of Zoology, London. 257(4):457-472.
Meagher, E.M., McLellan, W.A., Westgate, A.J., Wells, R.S., Frierson, D., Pabst, D.A. 2002. The relationship between heat flow and vasculature in the dorsal fin of wild bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus. The Journal of Experimental Biology. 205:3475-3486.
Dearolf, J.L., McLellan, W.A., Dillaman, R.M., Frierson, Jr., D., and D.A. Pabst. 2000. Precocial development of axial locomotor muscle in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Journal of Morphology. 244(3):203-215.
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