Dr. Lei Lani Stelle

Students are encouraged to participate in research as volunteers, summer students, and/or for their senior capstone projects.

Dr. Lei Lani Stelle investigates anthropogenic impacts on marine mammals off Southern California. With the assistance of students and volunteers, her research group monitors the distribution, behavior, and physiology of populations of all local cetacean and pinniped species. Photographic Identification is employed to track individual animals, estimate population sizes, and determine residency patterns. GIS maps display sightings, and are used to model habitat use and detect human disturbances.

In addition, she initiated and co-developed Whale mAPP, a collection of GIS-based web and mobile tools, to encourage public reports of animal sightings. Her outreach efforts help to educate the public and research findings contribute to marine mammal conservation and management.

UR students are encouraged to participate in this research as volunteers, summer students, and/or for their senior capstone projects.

Recent Publications

* - graduate student, ** - undergraduate student

Hann, C.*; Stelle, L.L., Szabo, A., Torres, L.G. (2018) “Obstacles and Opportunities of Using a Mobile App for Marine Mammal Research”. International Journal of Geo-Information, 7(5):169.

Stelle, L.L. (2017) Using citizen science to study the impact of vessel traffic on marine mammal populations. In J.A. Cigliano and H.L. Ballard (Ed.) Citizen Science for Coastal and Marine Conservation, Routledge Publisher

Stelle, L.L., King, M.* and Hann, C.* (2016) “Whale mAPP: Engaging Citizen Scientists to Contribute and Map Marine Mammal Sightings”. In Ocean Solutions, Earth Solutions 2nd edition, ESRI Press, Redlands, CA.

Stelle, L.L., King, M.* (2015) “Whale mAPP: Citizen Scientists Contribute and Map Marine Mammal Sightings”. Chapter in Ocean Solutions, Earth Solutions, ESRI Press, Redlands, CA.

Stelle, L.L. (2015) “GIS Makes Citizen Science More Accessible: How the General Public Can Regain the Thrill of Scientific Discovery” ArcNews (Esri); Vol. 27, No. 2.

Thompson, L.** and Stelle, L.L. (2014) “Prey Preference of the North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) Evaluated According to Optimal Foraging Theory”. IUCN Otter Specialist Group Bulletin, 31(1): 14-28.

Stelle, L.L. and Atkins, A.** (2012) “The Conservation Column: Gray Whale Migration” Sport Diver, UK. http://www.sportdiver.co.uk/News/Latest-News/THE-CONSERVATION-COLUMN-The-Grey-Whale-Migration

Stelle, L.L., Megill, W.M. and Kinzel, M.R. (2008) “Activity Budgets and Diving Behavior of Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in Feeding Grounds off Coastal British Columbia”. Marine Mammal Science, 24(3): 462–478.

Stelle, L.L., Blake, R.W., and Trites, A.W. (2000) “Hydrodynamic Drag in Steller Sea Lions (Eumetopias jubatus)”. Journal of Experimental Biology, 203: 1915-1923.