Alejandro Apolo Fernández Ajó

Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas (ICB) · Research

Changes in body size have been documented across taxa in response to human activities and climate change. Body size influences many aspects of an individual's physiology, behavior, and ecology, ultimately affecting life history performance and resilience to stressors. In this study, we developed an analytical approach to model individual growth pat...

Understanding how individual animals respond to stressors behaviourally and physiologically is a critical step towards quantifying long-term population consequences and informing management efforts. Glucocorticoid (GC) metabolite accumulation in various matrices provides an integrated measure of adrenal activation in baleen whales and could thus be...

Describing individual morphology and growth is key for identifying ecological niches and monitoring the health and fitness of populations. Eastern North Pacific ((ENP), approximately 16 650 individuals) gray whales primarily feed in the Arctic/sub-Arctic regions, while a small subgroup called the Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG, approximately 212...

Knowledge of baleen whales' reproductive physiology is limited and requires long-term individual-based studies and innovative tools. We used 6 years of individual-level data on the Pacific Coast Feeding Group grey whales to evaluate the utility of faecal progesterone immunoassays and drone-based photogrammetry for pregnancy diagnosis. We explored t...

Knowledge of baleen whales’ reproductive physiology is limited and requires long-term individual-based studies and innovative tools. We used 6 years of individual-level data on the Pacific Coast Feeding Group grey whales to evaluate the utility of faecal progesterone immunoassays and drone-based photogrammetry for regnancy diagnosis. We explored th...

Synopsis Male mammals of seasonally reproducing species typically have annual testosterone (T) cycles, with T usually peaking during the breeding season, but occurrence of such cycles in male mysticete whales has been difficult to confirm. Baleen, a keratinized filter-feeding apparatus of mysticetes, incorporates hormones as it grows, such that a s...

In waters off Península Valdés (PV), Argentina, southern right whales (SRW, Eubalaena australis) are occasionally exposed to domoic acid (DA), a neurotoxin produced by diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. Domoic acid toxicity in marine mammals can cause gastrointestinal and neurological clinical signs, alterations in hematologic and endocrine var...

Marine mammals rely on blubber mainly for energy storage, buoyancy, and streamlining. Mysticetes are born with a relatively thin fat layer that grows rapidly during nursing. However, little information on blubber deposition patterns is available for baleen whale calves. We measured blubber thickness at nine body locations in 350 southern right whal...

Obtaining endocrine data from alternative sample types such as baleen and other keratinized tissues has proven a valuable tool to investigate reproductive and stress physiology via steroid hormone quantification, and metabolic stress via thyroid hormone quantification in whales and other vertebrates. These alternative sample types provide an integr...

Monitoring the physiology of wild populations presents many technical challenges. Blood samples, long the gold standard of wildlife endocrinology studies, cannot always be obtained. The validation and use of non-plasma samples to obtain hormone data have greatly improved access to more integrated information about an organism’s physiological state....

Conservation physiology tools can be difficult to employ in the wild. Here we discuss developments in conservation physiology research of large whales, a taxonomic group that is famously difficult to study with traditional tools. We focus on the North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ) and southern right whale ( Eubalaena australis ), two...

Physiological measurements are informative in assessing the relative importance of stressors that potentially impact the health of wildlife. Kelp Gulls, Larus dominicanus (KG), resident to the region of Península Valdés, Argentina, have developed a unique behavior of landing on the backs of southern right whale adults and calves, Eubalaena australi...

La Patagonia Argentina conjuga en su extenso territorio diversos elementos naturales: montañas, mesetas, costas, desiertos, bosques, lagos y ríos. Dominada por pastos y arbustos bajos hacia el este, se transforma gradualmente hacia el oeste en un bosque denso hasta llegar a la cordillera de los Andes. La belleza colosal de sus paisajes ha sido ampl...

Whale-watching vessels can be used as platforms to collect scientific data on the natural history of cetaceans. Vessels with underwater viewing decks are exceptional and offer a unique view of the whales. We assessed the underwater viewing platform of the semi-submersible vessel Yellow Submarine that operates off Puerto Pirámides, Península Valdés,...

Male baleen whales have long been suspected to have annual cycles in testosterone, but due to difficulty in collecting endocrine samples, little direct evidence exists to confirm this hypothesis. Potential influences of stress or adrenal stress hormones (cortisol, corticosterone) on male reproduction have also been difficult to study. Baleen has re...

Baleen tissue accumulates stress hormones (glucocorticoids, GC) as it grows, along with other adrenal, gonadal and thyroid hormones. The hormones are deposited in a linear fashion such that a single plate of baleen allows retrospective assessment and evaluation of long-term trends in the whales' physiological condition. In whale calves, a single pi...

Accidental and intentional global movement of species has increased the frequency of novel plant–insect interactions. In Patagonia, the European woodwasp, Sirex noctilio , has invaded commercial plantations of North American pines. We compared the patterns of resin defenses and S. noctilio -caused mortality at two mixed-species forests near San Car...

La Patagonia Sumergida es un proyecto de divulgación que tiene por objetivo poner en valor los recursos acuáticos del Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, Patagonia Argentina. A través de la fotografía subacuática y textos interpretativos se muestran los paisajes sumergidos de la Patagonia y el valor ecosistémico de los mismos. Proyecto declarado de inter...

Satellite transmitters were attached to seven southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) in their breeding grounds in Golfo Nuevo, Península Valdés, Argentina, to monitor their movements and migration towards feeding destinations. Fifteen integrated transdermal implanted tags were deployed in juvenile and adult whales. Tag duration varied between...

The wood-boring wasp, Sirex noctilio, is a global invasive pest that infects and kills pine trees by inoculating spores of a symbiotic fungus (Amylostereum areolatum) at oviposition. Wasp larvae depend on fungal growth to feed, while the fungus relies on female wasps to initially condition the pine tree by inoculating a phytotoxic venom and for dis...

Sirex noctilio Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Siricidae), an invasive woodwasp from Spain and North Africa, has an expanding global presence in pine forests. Although their populations are managed in most parts of the world, the success rate of existing prevention and control strategies has been historically variable, and there is consensus that monitorin...

El objetivo de esta guía es brindarles a los docentes información sobre diferentes aspectos de los insectos que pueda ser utilizada no solamente en las clases de Ciencias Naturales, sino también, como base para planificar actividades de otras disciplinas como Lengua, Matemática o Geografía. A la vez, esta guía ofrece propuestas de actividades para...

We review the records of published and unpublished sightings and strandings for Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) in subantarctic waters of the Southwestern South Atlantic Ocean. Based on 59 sighting (n = 521 individuals) and 33 stranding records (n = 88 individuals), we identified three main areas of Risso's dolphin concentration in Patagonian wat...

We review the records of published and unpublished sightings and strandings for Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) in subantarctic waters of the Southwestern South Atlantic Ocean. Based on 59 sighting (n = 521 individuals) and 33 stranding records (n = 88 individuals), we identified three main areas of Risso's dolphin concentration in Patagonian wat...

The study of temporal patterns in diet composition is crucial to interpret adequately several aspects of seabird ecology and life history. The variation in prey composition and prey size in relation to chick age were evaluated in a South American Tern (Sterna hirundinacea) colony at Punta Loma, Argentina, during the 2006 breeding season. The diet o...

1 Proyecto de Investigación: "Monitoreo de avistaje de ballenas embarcado y costero en Puerto Pirámides y El Doradillo." Informe 2008. Aprobado por Disposición 32/07 SSTyAP y Autorización 05/07 DFyFS y su continuidad por Disposi-ción 11/08 SSTyAP y Autorización 14/08 DFyFS

La Falsa Orca, Pseudorca crassidens, se distribuye en prácticamente todos los mares y océanos tropicales y templados del mundo y su distribución ha sido determinada principalmente a partir de registros de varamientos. Su nombre común no se refiere al la semejanza en el aspecto externo con las Orcas, Orcinus orcas, sino a similitudes en la morfologí...

La actividad turística del avistaje de ballenas se encuentra en expansión a nivel mundial. El presente trabajo se realizó en el Área Natural Protegida (ANP) Península Valdés (Argentina), cuyas costas son reconocidas como uno de los mejores lugares del mundo para el avistaje de la Ballena Franca Austral. Esta actividad se realiza mediante dos moda-...