Volunteers electing to work on a research project  will be connected to the Research Team in Tenerife and allocated a project mentor. Once a project is selected they will do a preliminary literature review with the aim of formatting an appropriate research question. Once in Tenerife, research volunteers work on the whale watching boats with the research teams and help in the collecting, processing and analysis of data. They have free access to all datasets and support in writing their own paper.
Pilot Whales
  • Updating catalogue: link mother and calf with the photo ID
  • Pilot whale presence/absence and environment (temperature, cloud cover, salinity, time of the day)
  • Families and sociality: does a family has a signature whistle?
  • Sociality and vocalisation in pilot whales: is there a specific call for a specific behaviour?
  • Population studies with MARK
  • Photo ID: first and second marks
  • Photo ID: tracking individuals and look at the changes in the fin trough the time
  • Boat impacts on pilot whales: do they change their start behaviour when a boat approach the pod?
  • Sociality: about the individuals that we have seen moving through different well-established families?
  • Mapping pilot whales’ range with QGIS to assess site fidelity
  • Mainly displayed behaviour in relation to the environmental conditions
  • Calf behaviour: what is the main displayed behaviour in calves? (for example, are calves more active than adults?)
  • Literature and data analysis behind displayed behaviour (for example, why do pilot whale calves fluke slap?)
  • Can boat impact affect the sleeping pattern of short fin pilot whales? 
Bottlenose Dolphins
  • BND vocalisation: are the resident pods are using the same range of whistles and clicks than other pods in the Atlantic Ocean?
  • BND sociality: update the catalogue
  • Mark and recapture in MARK
  • Photo ID: nicks as first features and scratches as second features
  • Another example of photo ID: can we use dolphin’s face to recognise them individually?
  • Mapping the area with QGIS and looking for site fidelity
  • Boat impact on BND: do they change their behaviour when a boat approaches them?
  • Mainly displayed behaviour in general and related to environmental conditions
  • Presence/absence depending on environmental conditions (temperature, salinity, cloud cover, time of the day)
Migrating Species
  • Increasing/decreasing in presence of x species around Tenerife and possible related causes
  • Presence: environmental features that may be the cause of the presence for a target species
  • Vocalisation   photo ID of the migrants: track the migrant species and look for a reference catalogue in the AOCN (do some animals travel around the Atlantic Ocean? Can we recognise them individually?)
  • Mapping species range in QGIS over different years: is there a site fidelity?
  • Target the species that we always see through the years and start a catalogue
  • Boat impacts on the big whales, are they less/more impacted by the boat traffic?
  • Life history traits of the species and why they choose this area (food, reproduction, environment?)