 Dan has undertaken a PhD at Southern Cross University under the supervision of Professor Peter Harrison, Dr Phil Clapham and Emeritus Professor Peter Baverstock. He submitted his thesis, entitled "Population characteristics and migratory movements of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) identified on their southern migration past Ballina, eastern Australia" on 5 January 2010, and is now employed as a Postdoctoral Fellow at SCU.
Dan's research has focused primarily on the migratory patterns of humpback whales, as well as on improving photo-identification methods. He has worked in collaboration with Dr Eric Kniest from the University of Newcastle and Prof. Peter Harrison at SCU to develop the computerised fluke-matching system Fluke Matcher. This project received funding from the Australian Centre for Applied Marine Mammal Science in 2007/8 and Fluke Matcher is now undergoing the final stages of development thanks to a further grant from the Australian Marine Mammal Centre (AMMC) in 2009/10. The program will be made freely available at the completion of this project. After completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Sydney in 1996, Dan first became involved with whale research in 1998 with the Cape Byron Whale Research Project (CBWRP), and also spent the 2001 season as the Expedition Assistant for the Oceania Project in Hervey Bay. He came to Southern Cross University to study humpback whales for his Honours year in 2002, achieving a grade of First Class, and followed this by commencing his PhD at SCU in 2003. As part of his PhD, he created the Ballina Whale Research Project (BWRP), coordinating over 40 volunteers per year from 2003-2005 to assist with both land and vessel-based data collection. He has fostered ongoing collaborations with the CBWRP and the Oceania Project and is also a member of the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium (SPWRC) and the Society for Marine Mammalogy. Dan has received support to undertake his research from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and has ongoing collaborations with the University of Newcastle, the NSW Marine Parks Authority and the NSW Department of the Environment and Conservation. Collaborative projects that Dan is currently involved in with Trish and Wally Franklin and David Paton include: - a study of the movements and migratory timing of individual humpback whales photographed at Byron Bay (northern migration), Hervey Bay and Ballina (southern migration) from 1999- 2005
- an abundance estimate for the population of humpbacks that migrated up the eastern coast of Australia in 2005 using mark-recapture analysis of photo-ID data (this manuscript has now been accepted for publication by the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, see Paton et al. (accepted) below)
- a comparison of group characteristics of humpback whales at Byron Bay, Hervey Bay and Ballina
South Pacific Whale Research ConsortiumDan has had an ongoing involvement with the SPWRC since 2003, including being a co-author and one of the matching team to compare photo-ID data collected at locations from eastern Australia and across the South Pacific. This study aims to establish interchange rates between whales from eastern Australia and those from New Caledonia, Tonga, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Samoa, American Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Niue for the years 1999-2004. The manuscript for this study has now been accepted for publication (see Garrigue et al. (accepted) below). The 2005 season data have also now been included.MigalooIn October 2004, Dan was fortunate enough to photograph the world's only documented all-white humpback whale, commonly known as 'Migaloo', as well as collecting sloughed skin samples from the white whale when he breached (see gallery). Analysis of these samples by Megan Anderson at SCU confirmed that Migaloo is a male.  View Dan's photo gallery
Research publications- Franklin, T. and Burns, D. (2005) A southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) in Hervey Bay, Qld and Ballina, N NSW. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 51(2): 308.
- Garrigue, C., Franklin, T., Russell, K., Burns, D., Poole, M., Paton, D., Hauser, N., Oremus, M., Constantine, R., Childerhouse, S., Mattila, D., Gibbs, N., Franklin, W., Robbins, J. and Baker, C.S. (accepted) First assessment of interchange of humpback whales between Oceania and the east coast of Australia. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management..
- Kniest, E., Burns, D. and Harrison, P. (2010). Fluke Matcher: a computer-aided matching system for humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) flukes. Marine Mammal Science..26(3)
- Paton D., Brooks L., Burns, D., Franklin T., Franklin W., Harrison P. and Baverstock P. (accepted) Abundance of east coast Australian humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in 2005 estimated using multi-point sampling and capture-recapture analysis. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management..
- Franklin, W., Franklin, T., Brooks, L., Gibbs, N., Childerhouse, S., Smith, F., Burns, D., Paton, D., Garrigue, C., Constantine, R., Poole, M., Hauser, N., Donoghue, M., Russell, K., Mattila, D.K., Robbins, J., Anderson, M., Olavarria, C., Jackson, J., Noad, M., Harrison, P., Baverstock, P., Leaper, R., Baker, C.S. and Clapham, P. (in review) Eastern Australia (E1 breeding grounds) may be a wintering destination for Area V Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrating through New Zealand waters. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management..
- Franklin, W., Franklin, T., Brooks, L., Gibbs, N., Childerhouse, S., Burns, D., Paton, D., Garrigue, C., Constantine, R., Poole, M., Hauser, N., Donoghue, M., Russell, K., Mattila, D.K., Robbins, J., Oosterman, A., Leaper, R., Harrison, P., Baker, C.S. and Clapham, P. (in review) The Balleny Islands and Ross Sea (Antarctic Area V) may be the summer feeding area for Eastern Australian (E1 breeding group) humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Journal of Cetacean Research and Management..
- Harrison, P.L., Burns, D., Fury, C. and Luker, G. (2009) Global Conservation Status of Cetaceans. Final Report for the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. 125 pages. Reviewed by external referees Prof. Scott Baker and Dr. Bill Perrin
The following papers have also been presented to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commisssion: - Olavarria C., Anderson M., Paton D., Burns, D., Brasseur M., Garrigue C., Hauser N., Poole M., Caballero S., Florez-Gonzalez L. and Baker C.S. Eastern Australia humpback whale genetic diversity and their relationship with Breeding Stocks D, E, F and G. SC/58/SH25. Presented to the IWC SC May 2006.
- Anderson M., Steel, D., Franklin, W., Franklin, T., Paton D., Burns, D., Harrison, P., Baverstock, P.R., Garrigue C., Olavarria C., Poole M., Hauser N., Constantine, R., Thiele, D., Clapham, P., Donoghue, M. and Baker C.S. Microsatellite genotype matches of eastern Australian humpback whales to Area V feeding and breeding grounds. SC/62/SH7. Presented to the IWC SC June 2010.
- Constantine, R., Jackson, J., Garrigue C., Steel, D., Burns, D., Clapham, P., Hauser N., Mattila, D., Oremus, M., Poole M., Robbins, J., Thompson, K. and Baker C.S. Abundance and interchange of humpback whales in Oceania based on fluke photo-identification and DNA profiling. SC/62/SH18. Presented to the IWC SC June 2010.
Conference presentations- Poster at the National Cetacean Research Partnerships Workshop (Department of Environment & Heritage), Ballina - May 2004.
- Poster at the 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, San Diego - December 2005.
- Poster at the National Cetacean Research Partnerships Workshop (Department of Environment & Heritage), Adelaide - February 2006.
- Oral presentations at South Pacific Whale Research Consortium annual meetings - 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010.
Updated: 25 July 2010 |
