Description

Wearable technologies, like smart watches and fitness trackers, have transformed the way we understand human health by recording daily vital signs such as heart rate, breathing, and activity. Despite these advances in human physiological sensing, few platforms exist to study these same vital rates in animals — particularly for difficult-to-study animals, like baleen whales. Thus, my research focuses on developing new types of biologgers that can measure heart rate and other physiological signals in large whales, including the largest species on Earth. 

Dr. Ashley Blawas is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Goldbogen Lab at Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. In this talk, She will share how our research group is developing advanced biologging tools to study the physiology of blue whales (Balenoptera musculus) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in places like Monterey Bay. While past biologging tags have helped us answer questions like “where do whales go?” and “what do they do there?” the next generation of biologgers will be equipped to answer the question “how do they do it?” This data will help to understand how large whales dive to depths to feed and perform extended migrations across ocean basins. 

My presentation will discuss the engineering design process that has enabled heart rate measurements via electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings from large whales. I’ll present first-of-its-kind heart rate data from whales in Monterey Bay and explain what these data are revealing about their biology and ecology. Finally, I’ll also share some behind-the-scenes stories from the field and lab, and discuss the exciting horizons for the future of this work. 

Registration is required whether attending in person or via Zoom. 

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