Date

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Speaker

Location

Parking:
On site and free.

Time

Cost

Title

Marine Mammals of the Santa Barbara Region

Topics

Michelle Berman will be presenting the natural history of marine mammals in the Santa Barbara Region. Please come and join us as we explore the lives of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seal and sea lions inhabiting our waters and dive into their biology and behavior.

About the Speaker

Michelle is the Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. She received her BS from Colorado State University where she first gained marine mammal experience during a summer internship at Moss Landing Marine Laboratory in Monterey Bay, California. She completed her Masters work studying lipid metabolism in fasting Steller sea lions at the University of Central Florida. She is currently the California Marine Mammal Stranding Network's central coast stranding coordinator for cetaceans. Michelle's main research interests include examining cetacean natural history and epidemiology as well as studying anatomical and physiologically adaptations to their environments. Through presentations at international scientific conferences, regional society meetings and boat-based natural history tours, Michelle has educated people from all age classes and backgrounds on marine mammal natural history, anatomy and physiology. In addition to coordinating the marine mammal stranding response at the museum, she curates regional mammals, marine mammals, reptiles and amphibians for the museum's research collection.