Monitoring Blue Whales with Dr. Diane Gendron

Monitoring Blue Whales: Sentinels of Environmental Changes and Climate Variability with Dr. Diane Gendron

Blue whales that seasonally use the southeastern Gulf of California, particularly the Loreto Bay National Park during winter and spring, have been monitored for more than three decades from the research center CICIMAR-IPN, based in La Paz, Baja California Sur in Mexico.

Along with more than fifty postgraduate students, Dr. Diane Gendron, originally from Canada, studies blue whales at an individual level, providing data on their sex, size measurements, age classes and sexual maturity, along with several biomarkers validated from different biological samples.

During this talk, Dr. Gendron will focus in more detail on individual feces collected and preserved in ethanol that have provided the longest time series of endoparasite egg abundance, prey composition variability and pregnancy detection. In addition, the analysis of major elements such as Al and Ti from these feces has been useful to reveal the climatic variability registered in the southwest Gulf of California at interannual and decadal scales.

Finally, Dr. Gendron will show the significant decrease in blue whale body condition observed during the 2006-2024 time period and possible relationship with these long data sets.

Dr. Diane Gendron studies cetacean ecology at the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR), the Instituto Politecnico Nacional in Mexico. During 30 continuous years of research in the Gulf of California Diane has meticulously built the world’s most comprehensive, individual-specific blue whale database, identifying over 800 blue whales.

Parallel to her research she has shared her knowledge with the general public through participation in several documentaries (BBC Natural History unit, National Geographic, Thalassa and Ushuaia) the last one being the principal scientist in the IMAX film “ Blue Whales: Return of the Giants.”