The Marine Mammal and Seabird Ecology Team conducts critical research on Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs), other marine mammals, and seabirds in the Pacific Northwest. Our marine mammal research focuses on habitat and foraging ecology, marine mammal physiology and behavior, and marine mammal acoustics. Our seabird ecology research focuses on seabird-fisheries interactions, including: avian predation on Pacific salmon and forage fishes, monitoring seabird diet and productivity in Puget Sound and the northern California Current, assessing contaminant levels in seabirds and their fish prey, and assessing seabird bycatch in West coast groundfish fisheries.

The Center's Marine Mammal and Seabird Ecology Team works collaboratively with other scientists in the Genetics and Evolution Program, which studies the genetic structure of living marine resources, and the Mathematical Biology and Systems Monitoring Program, which studies population dynamics in relation to environmental parameters. We also collaborate with scientists in the Environmental Chemistry Program, which investigates contaminant levels in marine mammal and seabird tissues and analyzes stable isotopes and fatty acids to understand marine mammal prey.