When Citizens Meet Science: Progress Towards the Conservation of Dolphins in the the UAE with Dr. Ada Natoli

Dear all: kindly note that as always, we are holding this talk via Zoom. The connection will be open as of 19:00 for an informal meetup with fellow members, and the talk will begin at 19:30. We will send a zoom link to all registered guests. See you on Tuesday! 

About the talk: Whales and dolphins play a critical role in maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem and they are considered "sentinels" of the status of the marine environment. Although their protection will also directly benefit all the marine resources, it is often difficult to obtain sufficient data on their population status, trends, and threats they face in the region to trigger the formulation and implementation of effective conservation measures. Whale and dolphin research often implies costly surveys and skilled dedicated personnel, thus is difficult to finance, especially in areas where the general awareness and baseline information of these species are scarce.

In this talk, we provide a general introduction on whales and dolphins, and we present an update of the current understanding of the most regular species occurring in UAE waters based on data collected by scientists and the public in the past nine years, highlighting the crucial role that the public can play in supporting conservation.

About the speaker: Dr Ada Natoli is a biologist specialized in the conservation genetics of marine species, specifically marine mammals. Her main interest is investigating the evolutionary mechanisms generating population structure and speciation in natural populations, population connectivity and migration patterns and ultimately utilising this information to support authorities in formulating conservation measures. Ada has extensive laboratory and marine field research experience and her background covers also zoology, chemistry, microbiology and ecology. She completed her PhD (University of Durham, UK) on the molecular ecology of bottlenose and common dolphins and her first degree in biology (population genetics) at the University of Milan, Italy.

In the UAE, Ada founded and currently directs the UAE Dolphin Project to gather scientific information on the local wild dolphin population using different techniques (citizen sciences, dedicated surveys, stranding data, stomach content analysis). She also developed and conducted a research project on the population genetics of hawksbill turtles. She is currently assistant professor at Zayed University, UAE, where she  teaches undergraduate biology and ecology and conducts research on the local cetacean population.

She is a member of the IUCN/SSC Cetacean Specialist Group and participates in the International Whaling Commission. Her research is published in international peer-reviewed journals. 

**Photo by Claudia Steuber