Development of Respiratory Sampling to Assess Stress Responses in North Atlantic Right Whales

Our main long-term goal is to assess whether respiratory sample (blow) analysis can be developed as a practical method of physiological stress assessment in free-living cetaceans, particularly baleen whales. Few methods exist for assessment of physiological stress levels of baleen whales (Amaral 2010, Office of Naval Research 2010). Blow samples can be collected from targeted individuals and from large numbers of whales, and the method is non-invasive and can be employed multiple times on known individuals. Blow analysis may offer a novel method for assessment of short-term stress (minutes/hours) in cetaceans, and could complement existing fecal-sampling methods (Rolland et al. 2005, Hunt et al. 2006).