Understanding what a species eats – and how that changes over time – not only gives us a window into the lives of wild animals, but also gives us the power to be responsible stewards of their ecosystems.
Genetic metabarcoding is changing the way we look at diet and foraging ecology in whales. With each new sample, we gain new insight into the feeding behavior of these enigmatic species. Learn more about how the Whale And Dolphin Ecology Lab (WADE), led by SAFS Assistant Professor Amy Van Cise, is using genetic metabarcoding to understand and conserve southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea.
Alongside two student researchers from her lab, SAFS Assistant Professor Amy Van Cise has been out on the Puget Sound for a few days conducting killer whale research. Working with a team comprised of UW students, Wild Orca, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, they’re assisted in locating fecal samples from the whales by Wild Orca’s poop-sniffing dog, Eba.
Eba, the poop-sniffing Wild Orca dog.
Amy Van Cise, with student researchers Sofia Kaiaua and Mollie Ball, were aboard the Wild Orca boat with Research Director Dr. Deborah Giles, who is also a Resident Scientist at Friday Harbor Laboratories, where she teaches Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea in the Spring. Recent UW Marine Biology and Oceanography graduate, Aisha Rashid, was also present, now working for Wild Orca. They were joined by Hendrik Nollens from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and Eba’s handler, Jim Rappold.
NOAA research permit #26288 (Wild Orca)
The research team is collecting fecal samples from Southern Resident killer whales.
To collect samples, Wild Orca drives slowly about 500-1000m downwind of the killer whales (preferably behind them), waiting for Eba to catch a scent. Once she does, one of her trainers (either Giles or Jim Rappold) works with Eba to have her direct the boat to the sample location, where the team then scoops it out of the water and carefully spins it down, pours off the excess sea water, and stores it in a conical tube on ice until they can get it in a freezer.
Hendrik Nollens (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance) holds one of the samples collected during the trip.
From a single sample, the collaborative research team can get hormones (to tell things like pregnancy, stress, or nutritional stress), genetics (to ID the whale, determine diet composition, and/or look a gut microbiome and parasites), and also look at toxins/contaminants.
NOAA Research Permit #26288 (Wild Orca)
A single fecal sample can reveal a wealth of information about a killer whale.
The trip has also been used to collect content to develop an outreach video based on the diet research underway at the WADE lab and how it fits into the broader conservation goals for Southern Resident killer whales. For the video, Mollie and Sofia interviewed Dr. Michael Weiss, who is the Research Director of the Center for Whale Research, and Jay Julius, the former Chairman of the Lummi Nation, full time fisherman and father, and the Founder and President of Se’Si’Le.
The research team aboard the Wild Orca boat.
UW student researchers in the WADE lab interview Dr. Michael Weiss, Research Director of the Center for Whale Research.
All photos of killer whales are taken under NOAA research permit #26288 to Wild Orca
