We turn our attention to the leviathans of our seas, of our planet, the blue whale. In this talk, marine mammal biologist and recipient of our chapter's recent research grant, Jessie Meyer, will share his study results. As a measure of health, body condition has been increasingly used to assess the impacts of environmental and physiological change on marine mammals. This study expanded a previous analysis of blue whale body condition in the Eastern North Pacific (ENP) using images collected by Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) over a total of 21 years between 1991 and 2023. In all, 4,188 images of 1,319 individuals were grouped by year, decade, region, and season to investigate potential differences in body condition. Please join us for ground-breaking knowledge and insight into these wondrous animals who command our respect and caring.

This free event is open to the public. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. A suggested donation of $10 per participant is encouraged and greatly appreciated. Donations help cover webinar costs and support our education and cetacean research grant programs. To donate, please visit our website https://www.acs-sfbay.org/donate. We are grateful for your support!

BIO

Jessie Meyer's is a marine mammal biologist and recipeint of the 2024 ACS SF Bay chapter Izzy Szczepaniak reearch grant. Jessie will share his master's thesis groundbreaking research on blue whale body condition observations and conclusions.