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Posted on behalf of Ilse van Opzeeland
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Dear List,
The Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, in collaboration with the Ocean Acoustics Group at the Alfred-Wegener Institute, is advertising a 3-year postdoctoral position to investigate the effects of
underwater noise caused by tourism off the Antarctic Peninsula region.
Please share with anyone who might be interested; summary below.
Best wishes,
Ilse van Opzeeland
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Background:
Antarctic tourism is booming (more than 104,000 tourists visited Antarctica 2022–2023 season, over 40 percent more compared to the 2019–2020 pre-pandemic season, ca 125,000 tourists visited in the 2023/24 season), raising concerns on the impact of tourist landings,
in terms of damage, diseases and introduction of alien species, but also in terms of the impact of the increased presence of ships in the region. Moreover, tourist fleet shipping routes, destinations, and vessel movement strategies are laid out to include
encounters with Antarctic wildlife, as these often form a crucial part of the Antarctic tourist experience. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) is an organization of virtually all the commercial tour operators to the Antarctic.
IAATO has established guidelines for tourist landings on the Antarctic mainland and ships encountering marine life in the ocean. But still, IAATO is self-regulatory, and adherence to these guidelines is voluntary. Currently, there are no boundaries to Antarctic
tourism. Antarctic waters form crucial habitats for many marine mammal species, some of which undertake long-distance migrations to exploit Antarctic prey patches, synchronizing their arrival with conspecifics to optimize collective foraging strategies. Other
species rely on ice-covered Antarctic waters for breeding, thereby timing the rearing of young to the availability of specific sea-ice habitats as a birthing and lactating platform. The success of these strategies critically relies on the timing of behavior
to match the narrow summer season window during which the environmental conditions meet the critical seasonal- and species-specific habitat requirements for foraging and breeding. This, along with the vital role that underwater sound plays for these species
in coordinating behavior and navigating dark and under-ice habitats, reveals the enormous impact potential of increased human presence in Antarctic waters. Particularly given the crucial temporal overlap in habitat function and usage during the narrow summer
season window, with the timing of increased human presence in the area.
This position is part of a cohort of 4 Postdoc positions, working under the umbrella Topic “The dilemma of the Southern Ocean: ecosystems, sustainability and competing interests at the edge of the world".
Your Tasks:
This project focuses on mapping spatio-temporal overlaps in the presence of both human and marine mammal activities. By using sighting data and ship positional data, as well as passive acoustic recordings, the project will provide an overview of how hotspots
in human and marine mammal presence are distributed in affected areas. Acoustic ship models will furthermore help to understand and gauge the acoustic footprint of ships in various types of Antarctic habitats as well as their cumulative impact on seasonal
soundscapes and their cumulative impact on the local underwater noise budgets of human hotspots. In addition, the project seeks to place human presence in the broader context of the drastic effects of climate-induced changes and address questions related to
improving management, such as:
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How can vulnerable areas best be monitored? Can local noise budgets be accounted? What are the potential designs of effective monitoring setups?
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Can operators and tourists be sensitized to the impact of their presence, and how can knowledge contribute to modes of management and self-management?
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What measures may improve the sustainability of Antarctic tourism, if at all?
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At the Yang Center, we work flexibly, and while it suits me to email now, I don’t anticipate a response outside your regular work hours. Thanks!
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Dr. Holger Klinck
John W. Fitzpatrick Director
K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
Faculty Fellow
Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University
Courtesy Professor
Marine Mammal Institute
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University
Mailing address:
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Tel: +1.607.254.6250
Fax: +1.607.254.2460
Email: m("cornell.edu","Holger.Klinck");">
Web: https://bioacoustics.cornell.edu
How I say my name
Pronouns in use: He/Him/His
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