Attendees of UCMP short courses always go away with new understandings of the world around them and its history. Rather than presenting simple reviews of the basics, short course speakers present up-to-date overviews of topics and share both their current knowledge and the excitement of their science with the audience. However, those in attendance at last March’s Marine Mammal short course probably did not realize that they were actually getting a sneak preview of forthcoming research results!
Professor Dan Costa from UC Santa Cruz gave the audience a multi-media presentation documenting the “corridors of life” in the North Pacific Ocean and their role in supporting North Pacific food chains from plankton to whales. Professor Jim Estes, also of UC Santa Cruz, demonstrated the important role top predators play in maintaining biodiversity and ecological community structure. Their research findings presented last March have just appeared in the prestigious journals Nature and Science, respectively. UCMP’s short courses always captivate and motivate, but the 2011 course also offered attendees a rare preview of coming attractions in the world of marine mammal science — PRE-publication!
Read more about Prof. Costa’s research and Prof. Estes’ recent publication.