Westman Islands

The Icelandic Orca Project started in 2008 and is the first dedicated program to have followed individual killer whales over the years, becoming the longest-running research project on killer whales in Icelandic waters. The research focuses primarily on killer whale foraging ecology and how that links to the social and communication behaviours of this top predator, while also monitoring the population.

We aim to understand the diverse aspects of the lives of killer whales: how many there are, where they go, what they eat, who they associate with, how they keep in touch and what threats they may face. To achieve this, we integrate photo-identification for population assessment and association studies with biological sampling for diet, genetic and contaminant analysis, tagging for detailed behaviour, long-term behavioural observations and acoustic recordings. <

The aim is to monitor the population of Icelandic killer whales and investigate potential structure so we can assess its current status, identify potential threats and help in its conservation and protection. 

The HYPMO project focuses on the movement ecology of the northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus. The northern bottlenose whale is the most abundant beaked whale in the (sub-) Arctic. Deep-diving beaked whales like the northern bottlenose whale are rarely observed, which has restricted our understanding of the biology, ecology and behaviour of this family of cetaceans.

HYPMO addresses this lack of knowledge by studying when, where, why, and which animals move, their habitat use and their acoustic communication. We achieve this using deep-sea acoustic recorders, satellite tags, boat and drone-based observations and photo-identification, among other research tools. This allows us to investigate both individual and population behaviour and movements and it will help us shine a light on this elusive but fascinating species. 

This PhD project is conducted by Anna Selbmann under the supervision of Dr. Filipa Samarra, Dr. Paul Wensveen, and Prof. Emer. Jörundur Svavarsson at the University of Iceland 

Interspecific interactions and the role of acoustic communication in them have rarely been studied in marine mammals. This project tests the hypothesis that acoustic cues are particularly important in interactions between social top predators of the marine environment by investigating the interactions between long-finned pilot whales and killer whales. Pilot whales are regularly seen harassing killer whales in the North Atlantic, even though killer whales are known predators of pilot whales and not vice versa. It is unclear if competition for resources or mobbing, anti-predator behaviour drives these interactions. This project provides the first detailed description of pilot whale and killer whale interactions in Iceland and investigates the mechanisms behind them. Using state-of-the-art methodologies such as multi-sensor archival tags, as well as land- and boat-based observations, this study investigates the acoustic and movement behavioural responses of killer whales to pilot whale approaches. Furthermore, the role of acoustic cues in mediating these interactions is tested with novel playbacks of pilot whale sounds to killer whales. These data will increase our understanding of interspecific interactions in marine ecosystems and will have broader applications to human disturbance. 

This PhD. project is conducted by Tatiana Marchon under the supervision of Dr Filipa Samarra and Dr Marianne Rasmussen at the University of Iceland.

The aim of the project is to investigate the interplay between ecological specialization, sociality and communication in a marine top predator, the killer whale (Orcinus orca). In the best-studied populations from the North Pacific, strict diet specializations have heavily shaped the respective social organization and vocal behaviour of fish vs. mammal eating ecotypes.

In contrast, North Atlantic killer whales have diverse foraging strategies, fluid social structures and interspecific competition for prey resources. Therefore, North Atlantic killer whales pose an interesting case study to investigate how sociality, ecology and competition shape different patterns of acoustic communication in this apex predator.

These factors have been little studied outside the North Pacific ecotypes and thus this project will advance and broaden scientific understanding of the dynamics driving sound production in this species, which heavily relies on acoustic communication for survival.

More broadly, this study will improve knowledge of the acoustic behaviour of the North Atlantic killer whale and increase understanding of their behavioural and social connectivity to other populations.

The south of Iceland has unique bathymetric and oceanographic characteristics that should make it an important habitat for cetaceans. However, there has been little monitoring of the coastal waters of this region, due to the lack of natural harbours between Þorlákshöfn and Höfn, except for Vestmannaeyjar.

Our research includes land-based monitoring of all cetacean species observed in the archipelago during the summer months, as well as year-round passive acoustic monitoring. With these field techniques, we aim to investigate the species that visit throughout the year and how they are using this habitat. Together, this information is being used to reveal the importance of this unique habitat to cetaceans.