Bottlenose dolphins along the Florida panhandle experienced three unusual mortality events in 1999, 2004, and 2006, in which over 320 dolphins died. A large number of these strandings were located near St. Joseph Bay, FL. However, it is not known which stock(s) were impacted. This project represents the first effort to identify dolphin ranging patterns [...]

Little is known about the distributions, concentrations, or types of trace elements in cetacean skin. Cetacean skin has physiology that is unique from other marine mammals, allowing for distinct trace element accumulation patterns. Trace elements mainly accumulate in the multilayered epidermis and dermis. The high lipid content in blubber prevents the deposition of trace elements [...]

During 1999 and 2004, bottlenose dolphins along the Florida panhandle experienced two unusual mortality events resulting in the deaths of more than 227 dolphins. The majority of these strandings were located near St. Joseph Bay, but it is not known which stock(s) were impacted. This project represents the first effort to identify dolphin ranging patterns [...]

In my Master’s thesis work I described five separate communities of dolphins in Tampa Bay, defined by their patterns of association and home ranges. We are now estimating gene flow among these communities and determining how well our observations fit the “Boundary Rank” model described by Karen Martien and associates. To address these questions, we [...]

With the official completion of my thesis research in May 2002, many interesting facts have been revealed regarding the population structure of bottlenose dolphins in the inshore and coastal waters near Sarasota Bay. Using mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellite markers, significant population differentiation was detected between the Sarasota Bay residents and bottlenose dolphins sampled in [...]

In my Master’s thesis work I described five separate communities of dolphins in Tampa Bay, defined by their patterns of association and home ranges. We are now interested in determining how much gene flow occurs among these five communities and how well they fit the model described by Karen Martien and associates. In August 2003, [...]