Behavioural Response Research Evaluation Workshop II
Abstract
The behavioral response of marine mammals to Navy sonar exposure has been a research area funded by the US Navy for around two decades. In 2015 ONR, LMR and NOAA funded the first Behavioral Response Research Evaluation Workshop (BRREW) project (ONR award number N000141512664), which reviewed the state of knowledge on marine mammal behavioral response to sonar at that time. The goals were toevaluate the return on investment of US Navy funded programs, identify the data needs and the contributions of current research programs to meeting those needs, and evaluate the ability to meet outstanding data needs given the current state of technology. Resultsappeared as a report (Harris & Thomas 2015) and a review paper (Harris et al. 2018). Harris & Thomas (2015) recommended that #BRS research be continued and extended to increase sample sizes and experimental replication, and temporal duration and spatial scale#. It was noted that future investigations would benefit from combining experimentation and observation to enable linkage of short-termbehavioral response to long-term fitness consequences of repeated exposure. The importance of baseline studies and longer-term monitoring of animals before and after exposure is emphasized throughout.# (Harris & Thomas 2015). Many of these recommendations were acted upon in the subsequently funded BRS-related efforts. Eight years on, and with substantial continued investment by the Navy, itis timely to consider a follow-on review with a focus on documenting and synthesizing all available BRS data across research programs, the questions that have been addressed through BRS research, and the analysis methods used. The research proposed here will provide a synthesis of the current state of knowledge, including both controlled exposure experiments (captive and free-ranging animals) and observational studies. By documenting all the available BRS data, the questions that have been addressed, and the analysis methods used, we will provide a useful resource for the Navy to prioritize future BRS efforts and understand the data available to meet Navy needs (e.g., developing dose-response functions for environmental compliance). Critically, and for future planning, the review will allow consideration of whether existing data may be used to answer questions for which they were not originally intended, e.g., through combining data across different projects and sampling platforms. We will also identify gaps in the methods available toanalyze data in a manner that directly addresses outstanding Navy questions and needs. This effort can also be viewed as an important incremental step towards a subsequent forward-looking synthesis effort to identify across-species, across-context findings and lessons, and provide advice for future BRS design.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 08, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412579
Entities
People
- Catriona M Harris
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of St Andrews