National Marine Mammal Laboratory

The California Current Ecosystems Program conducts research on the status and trends of marine mammals in Washington, Oregon, and California. The research projects focus on estimation of abundance and demographic parameters and the factors that regulate population growth such as disease and environmental changes. Studies of movements, behavior and foraging ecology also provide insight into the role marine mammals play in the California Current Ecosystem as the populations recover from historical exploitation.

Program Leader: Robert DeLong

Note: The National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) has recently changed its name to "Marine Mammal Laboratory" (MML). Please be aware that the former name still exists on lower-tier pages which have been retained for historical context.

Recent Reports, Publications, and Posters

Quarterly Reports

Publications

McHURON, E. A., S. H. PETERSON, J. T. ACKERMAN, S. R. MELIN, J. D. HARRIS, and D. P. COSTA. 2016. Effects of age, colony, and sex on mercury concentrations in California sea lions. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 70(1):46-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00244-015-0201-4 Online.
LYONS, E. T., T. A. KUZMINA, T. R. SPRAKER, S. R. MELIN, and R. L. DeLONG. 2016. Hookworms (Uncinaria lyonsi) in dead California sea lion (Zalophus Californianus) pups and sand in winter (2014-2015) on San Miguel Island, California. Comp. Parasitol. 83(2):283-286. http://dx.doi.org/10.1654/4824i.1 Online.
LYONS, E. T., T. A. KUZMINA, T. R. SPRAKER, and R. L. DeLONG. 2016. Parasitological examination of northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) pups for presence of hookworms (Uncinaria spp.) on San Miguel Island, California. Helminthologia 53(2):191-194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/helmin-2016-0009 Online.
CORTES-HINOJOSA, G., F. M. D. GULLAND, R. DELONG, T. GELATT, L. ARCHER, and J. F. X. WELLEHAN, Jr. 2016. A novel gammaherpesvirus in northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) is closely related to the California sea lion (Zalophus Californianus) carcinoma-associated otarine herpesvirus-1. J. Wildlife Diseases 52(1):88-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.7589/2015-03-060 Online.
JOHNSON, D. S., J. L. LAAKE, S. R. MELIN, and R. L. DELONG. 2016. Multivariate state hidden Markov models for mark-recapture data. 31:233-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/15-STS542. Online.
LAAKE, J. L., S. R. MELIN, A. J. ORR, D. J. GREIG, K. C. PRAGER, R. L. DELONG, and J. D. HARRIS. 2016. California sea lion sex- and age-specific morphometry. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-312, 21 p. (.pdf, 631 KB). Online.
RANDHAWA, N., F. GULLAND, G. M. YLITALO, R. DeLONG, and J. A. K. MAZET. 2015. Sentinel California sea lions provide insight into legacy organochlorine exposure trends and their association with cancer and infectious disease. One Health 1:37-43. Online.
LEISING, A. W., I. D. SCHROEDER, S. J. BOGRAD, J. ABELL, R. DURAZO, G. GAXIOLA-CASTRO, E. P. BJORKSTEDT, J. FIELD, K. SAKUMA, R. R. ROBERTSON, R. GOERICKE, W. T. PETERSON, R. BRODEUR, C. BARCELO, T. D. AUTH, E. A. DALY, R. M. SURYAN, A. J. GLADICS, J. M. PORQUEZ, S. McCLATCHIE, E. D. WEBER, W. WATSON, J. A. SANTORA, W. J. SYDEMAN, S. R. MELIN, F. P. CHAVEZ, R. T. GOLIGHTLY, S. R. SCHNEIDER, J. FISHER, C. MORGAN, R. BRADLEY, and P. WARYBOK. 2015. State of the California current 2014-15: Impacts of the warm-water "blob". Cal. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 56:31-68.
Additional recent California Current Ecosystems Program publications

Posters

Hunter Based Observations of Bowhead and Gray Whales Near Barrow, Alaska
By: J. CRAIG GEORGE, ROB DeLONG, BARB TUDOR, LEWIS BROWER, FREDRICK BROWER, BILLY OKPEAHA, BILLY ADAMS
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2013
(2013 poster, .pdf, 3.4 MB) Online.
Shark-inflicted Lesions on California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) at San Miguel Island, California: a New Phenomenon
By: JEFFREY D. HARRIS, SHARON R. MELIN, ROBERT L. DeLONG
Conference: California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Conference, La Jolla, CA, Dec 2011
(2011 poster, .pdf, 1.13 MB) Online.
Intraspecific Comparison of California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) Diet Assessed Using Fecal and Stable Isotope Analyses
By: ANTHONY J. ORR, GLENN R. VanBLARICOM, ROBERT L. DeLONG, VICTOR H. CRUZ-ESCALONA, SETH D. NEWSOME
Conference: Wildlife Society, Washington Chapter / Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology joint meeting, Gig Harbor, WA, Mar 2011
(2011 poster, .pdf, 1.09 MB) Online.
Examination of Ontogenetic Trends in Foraging Behaviors of California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) using Stable Isotope Analysis
By: ANTHONY J. ORR, SETH D. NEWSOME, JEFFREY L. LAAKE, GLENN R. VanBLARICOM, ROBERT L. DeLONG
Conference: Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
(2009 poster, .pdf, 1.06 MB) Online.
Factors Influencing the Activity Budget of Territorial Male California Sea Lions
By: SARAH GUTZWILLER
Conference: Hollings Scholarship Student Presentations, Annual NOAA Science Symposium, Silver Spring, MD, Aug 2009
(2009 poster, .pdf, 1.49 MB) Online.
Program Distance: Recent Developments in Analysis and Design Capabilities for Cetacean Population Estimation
By: L. THOMAS, D. L. BORCHERS, S. T. BUCKLAND, J. L. LAAKE, E. REXSTAD
Conference: International Biometric Conference (24th), Dublin, Ireland, July 2008
(2008 poster, .pdf, 985KB) Online.
Double-Observer Line Transect Methods: Levels of Independence
By: STEPHEN T. BUCKLAND, JEFFREY L. LAAKE, DAVID L. BORCHERS
Conference: Biology of Marine Mammals 17th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Cape Town, South Africa, Nov/Dec 2007
(2007 poster, .pdf, 1.03MB) Online.
Examining the Ontogeny of Foraging Behaviors of the California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) Using Stable Isotope Analysis
By: ANTHONY J. ORR, SETH D. NEWSOME, GLENN R. VanBLARICOM, ROBERT L. DeLONG
Conference: Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Annual Cooperators Meeting, Seattle, WA, May 2006
(2006 poster, .pdf, 3.09MB) Online.
Additional recent California Current Ecosystems Program poster presentations