Project Grant N000142612005

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program provides $643,665 to the National Marine Mammal Foundation, Inc. to conduct collaborative research on oxygen transport mechanisms in elite diving mammals. The 4-year project, beginning December 1, 2023, will evaluate and model in vivo oxygen delivery during dive simulations with California sea lions and bottlenose dolphins. It will also elucidate the biochemical mechanisms regulating red blood cell oxygen...

This $418,546 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program supports collaborative research to investigate oxygen transport mechanisms in elite diving mammals. The research team from San Diego State University will evaluate and model in vivo oxygen delivery in California sea lions and bottlenose dolphins, elucidate the biochemical regulation of oxygen off-loading in these species, and examine oxygen storage and diffusion in their skeletal muscle. This...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $1,363,205 Project Grant under its Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to conduct collaborative research on oxygen transport mechanisms in elite diving mammals. The project aims to investigate differences in how oxygen is delivered to skeletal muscles in pinnipeds (e.g., sea lions) versus cetaceans (e.g., dolphins) during long-duration dives. The research team will evaluate in vivo oxygen...

This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $724,026 supports research at the University of Michigan from March 2023 through February 2028 under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041). The award will fund the creation of a dynamic modeling framework to advance understanding of bottlenose dolphin swimming mechanics. Researchers will gather kinematic data from electronic tags attached to free-swimming dolphins measuring movement and caloric expenditure. They will combine these data with...

This three-year, $551,413 National Science Foundation project grant supports research into the origin of large brains in cetaceans. Funded under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), the award to Northeast Ohio Medical University will analyze fossil collections to identify factors contributing to brain size expansion in early whales. Researchers will test the hypothesis that the acquisition of echolocation led to increases in brain size by studying changes in ear shape over time. They will also...

The National Science Foundation awarded a $276,000 Project Grant to support an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2024. The grant was awarded under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to conduct integrative research investigating the rules governing interactions between genomes, environments and phenotypes in filter feeding baleen whales and basking sharks. The fellowship will fund anatomical research and engineering tests to identify the...

This Cooperative Agreement award, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Unallied Science Program (CFDA 11.472), aims to advance the state of telemetry tag technology for monitoring North Atlantic right whales (NARW). The $679,552 project, with a period of performance from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2027, will focus on developing a new bioinspired adhesive mounting tag platform to enable longer-duration attachment of telemetry sensors on cetaceans. Key...

This federal Project Grant award of $432,357 from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research to understand how fishes have adapted to high-pressure environments in the deep ocean. The research aims to: Characterize patterns of genome evolution across 100 species of perciform fishes found at depths ranging from 0-8,000 meters. Measure structural changes in key biomolecules involved in metabolism, cell movement, and stress responses across...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) under the Environmental Health federal grant program (CFDA 93.113) provides $153,851.00 to Florida Gulf Coast University to identify and characterize changes in plasma protein abundance in Florida manatees and sea turtles that have been naturally exposed to the Florida red tide. The goal is to develop diagnostic biomarkers for red tide intoxication in humans, as members of the public can be exposed to...

This National Science Foundation project grant of $207,000 supports research and education activities from August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2026 under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074). The grant recipient will investigate cetacean morbillivirus transmission in the Pacific Basin through serology testing of 20 Hawaiian cetacean species to assess exposure rates. Social network analysis of two decades of cetacean sighting data will document mixed-species interactions to simulate...