Upcoming Events
MS Thesis Defense - Jacqueline E. Anderson - Environmental Science and Policy
Apr 27, 2026, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Johnson Center 333, Meeting Room D
Virtual on Zoom - please register:
https://tinyurl.com/5bezfh7k
MS Thesis
Department of Environmental Science and Policy
College of Science
George Mason University
Candidate: Jacqueline E. Anderson
Defense Date and Time: April 27, 2026 at 11:00am
Defense Location: Johnson Center 333, Meeting Room D and virtual on Zoom
Title: Pey selection by bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops erebennus) mother-calf pairs within the lower Chesapeake Bay and coastal Virginia as a method of meeting unique physiological demands and limitations
Thesis Director: Dr. T. Reid Nelson
Committee: Dr. David Luther, Dr. Kathleen Hunt, Dr. E.C.M. Parsons
ABSTRACT
The prey preferences of Tursiops erebennus (Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphin) mother-calf pairs transient to the lower Chesapeake Bay and coastal Virginia lack adequate field research. This research may serve as a preliminary study for further investigation. It was determined that mother-calf pairs demonstrate prey selection and avoidance. The pairs may favor the selected prey species, Leiostomus xanthurus, for their abundance (environmentally driven), catchability factors, and nutritional quality in meeting the unique physiological demands and limitations of the mother and calf individually. The use of shallow water habitat by mother-calf pairs may also aid them in successfully capturing prey given their limitations.
