Heidi Pearson

Heidi Pearson

Collaborating Faculty

Marine Mammals
Seabirds

University of Alaska Southeast
205C Anderson
11066 Auke Lake Way
Juneau, AK 99801
907-796-6271
907-796-6447 (fax)
hcpearson@alaska.edu

 
Education

Texas A&M University
Ph.D. Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
2008

Duke University
B.S. Biological Anthropology and Anatomy
1998

 

Advising

 

Selected Publications

* = student author

Schuler*, A.R., S. Piwetz, D. Steckler, J. Di Clemente*, and H.C. Pearson. 2019. Humpback whale movement and behavior in response to whale-watching vessels in Juneau, AK. Frontiers in Marine Science 6:710. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00710. 

Schuler*, A.R., and H.C. Pearson. 2019. Conservation benefits of whale-watching in Juneau, AK. Tourism in Marine Environments 14 (4): 231–248. https://doi.org/10.3727/154427319X15719404264632.

Pearson, H.C., P.W. Jones, T.P. Brandon*, K.A. Stockin, and G.E. Machovsky-Capuska. 2019. A biologging perspective to the drivers that shape gregariousness in dusky dolphins. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 73:155. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-019-2763-z.

Pearson, H.C., P. Jones, M. Srinivasan, D. Lundquist, C.J. Pearson, and G.E. Machovsky-Capuska. 2017. Testing and deployment of C-VISS (cetacean-borne video camera and integrated sensor system) on wild dolphins. Marine Biology 164:42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-017-3079-z.

Pearson, H.C., T.M. Markowitz, J.S. Weir, and B. Würsig. 2017. Dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) social structure characterized by social fluidity and preferred companions. Marine Mammal Science 33 (1): 251–276. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12370.

Pearson, H.C. 2011. Sociability of female bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Understanding evolutionary pathways toward social convergence. Evolutionary Anthropology 20 (3): 85–95. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.20296.

Pearson, H.C., J.M. Packard, and R.W. Davis. 2006. Territory quality of male sea otters in Prince William Sound, Alaska: Relation to body and territory maintenance behaviors. Canadian Journal of Zoology 84 (7): 939–946. https://doi.org/10.1139/Z06-083.

 

Specialties

  • Marine mammal biology
  • Behavioral ecology
  • Comparative socioecology

 

Current Research Projects

  • Effects of whale-watching on humpback whales
  • Sea otter foraging ecology and kelp ecosystem dynamics
  • Development of a noninvasive biologger for small cetaceans
  • Examining the social intelligence hypothesis in cetaceans and primates
  • Humpback whale behavioral ecology
  • Effects of climate, ecosystem, and anthropogenic change on dusky dolphins

 

Links to Other Places