United States
£ GBP
The book offers a comparative look at the social strategies of five carnivorous social predators (four terrestrial and one marine) that make them successful hunting units. The focus is on mammalian predators hunting (largely) mammalian prey. Each chapter (with separate authors) devoted to a particular species, explores the versatile hunting techniques and social dynamics of these top predators as they attempt to survive, defend, and reproduce in challenging habitats. Each chapter also delves into how the social fabric and ecology of each species influence their ability to deal with natural and man-made threats and shifting baselines.
Mridula Srinivasan has a doctoral degree (PhD, 2009) in wildlife and fisheries sciences from Texas A & M University, investigating predation risk effects from killer whales on the behavioural ecology of dusky dolphins off Kaikoura, New Zealand, using an individual-based model. Previously, she earned degrees in environmental management from Florida Tech (MS, 2001) and zoology & molecular biology (B.Sc. (Honors), 1997 and M.Sc., 1999), from the University of Delhi, India. Mridula has expertise and experience in ecological modelling, behavioural ecology, marine policy, assessing human and environmental change impacts on marine species, and community ecology – with a special interest in predator-prey interactions, predation risk, and risk effects. She is also actively involved in supporting international marine mammal science education, research, science capacity development, and providing technical advice to universities, government, and non-governmental organizations, especially in India. She is passionate about ocean literacy and mentoring the next generation of marine scientists. She has been with NOAA for nearly 12 years and is currently the Director of the Marine Mammal and Turtle Division at NOAA Fisheries' Southeast Fisheries Science Center, where she oversees the marine mammal and turtle research enterprise engaged in producing applied science with significant conservation and societal impact. She was a 2009 NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Fellow at NOAA Research International Activities Office, a 2017 US Department of State Embassy Science Fellow, and a 2019 Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR) Visiting Scholar.
Bernd Würsig has degrees from Ohio State University (BS, 1971) and Stony Brook University (PhD, 1978); spent 3 years as an NIH/NSF postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at Santa Cruz (1978-1981), and 9 years going through the professor ranks at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (1981-1989). He came to Texas A&M University as a professor of marine biology in the summer of 1989. He is now a Regents and University Distinguished Professor (Emeritus since Nov. 2016). He has taught courses in Marine Bird and Mammal Biology, Marine Vertebrates, Bio-Statistics, Behavioral Ecology of Cetaceans, and Study Abroad courses in Mexico, Greece, and New Zealand. Würsig has published over 200 peer review papers, chapters, and ten books; and has been a senior advisor to 70 graduate students and 14 movies on nature interpretation. As senior advisor, he was nominated for an Academy Award for an IMAX movie on dolphins. He, his students, and postdocs have studied marine mammal and sea bird foraging, sexual, and social ecology on all continents, with present work on social strategies of dusky dolphins in New Zealand and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in Hong Kong. Recent books are The Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (third edition, (Senior Editor, 2018), The Dusky Dolphin: Master Acrobats off Different Shores (with Melany Würsig, 2010), Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Odontocetes (Editor, 2019), and Marine Mammals: The Evolving Human Factor (with editor Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, 2022).
