Data Management: A Key to Effective Conservation

Abstract

The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale experiences multiple sources of stress that have been shown to have negative impacts on the health of the species. While the scientific understanding of impacts of individual stressors such as noise pollution, prey scarcity and fishing gear has grown, there is still a lack of understanding of the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors on marine mammals. The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is conducting a five year study that aims to address this knowledge gap by modeling how multiple stressors observed in Cape Cod Bay, MA have interacted to affect the health of the North Atlantic right whale. My master’s project supports this effort by leveraging data management and visualization skills to provide an interactive tool that a) facilitates visual exploration of data availability across the study’s temporal and spatial scales and b) provides a summary of viable modeling days based on spatiotemporal overlaps between datasets. This data exploration tool will help form meaningful research questions that will ultimately contribute to filling a crucial knowledge gap in right whale conservation.