TEAM
Principal Investigator
Mauricio Cantor is a behavioural ecologist interested in the dynamics of social, cultural and ecological systems and other networked biological phenomena. His empirical research focus on marine mammals as research models due to their behavioral diversity, learning ability and social complexity —not to mention the exciting fieldwork challenges that come with studying them. Mauricio got a BSc in Biological Sciences and a MSc in Ecology in Brazil, and a PhD in Biology in Canada. After some postdoctoral appointments in Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, he is now an Assistant Professor at the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, and at the Marine Mammal Institute, at Oregon State University, USA, where he leads the LABIRINTO
People & Projects
“We are committed to anti-racism in everything we do, and acknowledge that anti-racism is a path toward dismantling other forms of oppression, including inequities related to gender, sexual orientation, class, ability, religion, or age.”
“Everyone has the opportunity to participate in big decisions. We intentionally seek out different perspectives, including minority opinion of all kinds.”
“We strive to understand where the system is functional and dysfunctional in serving all audiences. We strive for a system that is equitable to all.”
TEAM Members
Alexandre Marcel da Silva Machado
2019-2023, PhD student at the Graduate Programme in Ecology
Institution: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC, Brazil
Supervisor: Prof. Fabio Daura-Jorge,
Co-supervisor: Mauricio Cantor, PhD
Thesis: The influence of individual heterogeneity in the dynamics of dolphin-fishermen foraging and the implications for the dolphin population
What is he up to?
I am a biologist with a master’s in Ecology, and currently a PhD candidate in Ecology at [UFSC](https://ecz.ccb.ufsc.br). My research is on the interface between behavioral ecology and population ecology, combining multiple platforms of data collection, computational tools, and quantitative methods to investigate the multifaceted dimensions of ecological interactions. In my PhD, I am investigating the individual variation in dolphins that forage with artisanal fishers and whether individuals have asymmetrical contributions to the benefits accrued in this rare case of human-wildlife cooperation. Ultimately, I aim to unravel the mechanisms underlying individual variation among dolphins foraging with fishers and quantify the population-level implications of such variation–if any.
Shanan Atkins, MSc
2018-2022, PhD candidate at the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences
Institution: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Supervisor: Prof.Dr. Neville Pillay
Co-supervisor: Mauricio Cantor, PhD
Thesis: Identifying leverage points to solve the human-wildlife conflict regarding shark nets
What is she up to?
I am wild about biodiversity in all its amazing manifestations and am driven to use science to inform effective conservation action to prevent the loss of biodiversity. I started out investigating the interactions between the Endangered Indian Ocean humpback dolphins and shark nets set to protect swimmers and surfers along the KwaZulu-Natal coast in South Africa. I’ve ended up doing a PhD studying the bigger picture, trying to see both the social and the ecological elements. My aim is to identify obstacles and opportunities to change this human-wildlife conflict that involves sharks, bathers and other marine megafauna that is caught unintentionally.
Stephane Polyane Gomes de Moura
2019-2023, PhD student at the Graduate Programme in Coastal and Oceanic Systems
Institution: Universidade Federal do Paraná, UFPR, Brazil; Oregon State University, USA
Supervisor: Dr. Camila Domit
Co-supervisor: Mauricio Cantor, PhD
Thesis: Distribution and spatial dynamics of Guiana dolphins, Sotalia guianensis, and the potential vulnerability to impacts on the Paraná coast, southern Brazil
What is she up to?
I’m studying the spatial dynamics and habitat selection of Guiana dolphins on the Paraná Coast, southern Brazil, and how these parameters are affected by anthropic activities. My main interests are in population and behavioral ecology, including topics such as behavior and group structure; photo-identification; population parameters; residence patterns; distribution and spatial dynamics; habitat use; habitat selection; habitat modeling; ecological traps; and cetaceans vulnerability to anthropic impacts. I always loved the ocean, and working for its conservation is a personal accomplishment.
Daiane Santana Marcondes
2022-2025, PhD student at Graduate Program in Coastal and Oceanic Systems
Institution: Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil
Supervisor: Dr. Mauricio Cantor
Co-supervisor: Dr. Camila Domit
Thesis: Social structure and acoustic repertoire of Guiana dolphins in the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex, southern Brazil
What is she up to?
Daiane investigates the relationship between acoustic behavior and social structure of Guiana dolphins, and how the exposure to anthropogenic activities can disrupt both social and acoustic repertoires.
Gabriel Fraga da Fonseca, BSc, MSc
2022-2025, PhD student at Graduate Program in Coastal and Oceanic Systems
Institution: Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil
Supervisor: Dr. Camila Domit,
Co-supervisor: Prof. Maikon di Domenico, Dr. Mauricio Cantor
Thesis: Spatiotemporal patterns of sea turtle mortality in the Southern Atlantic
What is he up to?
Gabriel investigates the spatio-temporal distribution of sea turtle stranding events in southeastern and southern Brazil, by applying a range of modelling techniques to a comprehensive database.
Kyra Bankhead
2022-2024, MSc student in Wildlife Sciences
Institution: Oregon State University, USA
Supervisor: Dr. Mauricio Cantor
Co-supervisor: Dr. Randall Wells, Dr. Katie McHugh, Dr. Sonja Wild
Thesis: The diffusion dynamics of human-induced food provisioning on Sarasota dolphins
What is she up to?
I received my Bachelor’s degree with a marine emphasis at Western Washington University, where I worked in Dr. Acevedo-Gutierrez’s Marine Mammal Ecology lab. I developed an immense interest in marine mammal behavioral ecology, and started researching cultural transmission in cetaceans where I came across many of Dr. Cantor’s papers. Thereafter, I obtained my current position in Dr. Cantor’s Lab for Animal Behavioral Interaction Research in the Ocean, and am currently investigating the spreading dynamics of human-induced food provisioning on Sarasota dolphins. The major goal of my study is to identify the mechanism by which key individual dolphins spread the begging behavior in Sarasota to help stop the conditioning of dolphins to direct and indirect provisioning by humans. Apart from the lab, I spend my time outside, specifically at the beach swimming and scuba diving! You can find more information on my thesis project on my GitHub at https://github.com/bankheak/Dolphins
Mahmud Rahman
2022-2024, MSc student in Wildlife Sciences
Institution: Oregon State University, USA
Supervisor: Dr. Mauricio Cantor
Co-supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Lewis
Thesis: Risk-taking behavior among bottlenose dolphins: individual variation and social influence
What is he up to?
Mahmud is an international M.Sc. student, coming from a riverine country Bangladesh where the largest population of Ganges River dolphins live. He has a bachelor degree in Fisheries and became interested in dolphins while working with Wildlife Conservation Society. His primary job was building a citizen science fishermen network to collect data on by-catch of cetaceans (e.g., Ganges River dolphins, Irrawaddy dolphins, Humpback dolphins). Being passionate about electronics, programming, and behavioral ecology, he realized that advanced technology can be used to research mapping behavioral networks. This excites him the most and has pushed him to pursue an M.Sc. in the Labirinto lab. His research will be investigating risk taking dolphins in a residential bottlenose population in the Florida Keys and their influence on other dolphins. His research project is supported by Mary Lou and Bruce Mate Marine Mammal Fellowship.
Fernanda Fecci
2022-2024, MSc student at the Graduate Programme in Coastal and Oceanic Systems
Institution: Universidade Federal do Paraná, UFPR, Brazil
Supervisor: Dr. Camila Domit
Co-supervisor: Mauricio Cantor, PhD
Thesis: Anthropogenic disturbance on parental care of Guiana dolphins
What is she up to?
Fernanda combines behavioural sampling with drone imaging analyses to investigate the influence of anthropogenic activities on the parental care of Guiana dolphins at the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex, southern Brazil
Tainá de Souza Duarte Nogueira
2020-2022, MSc student at Graduate Program in Ecology
Institution: Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Marcos Rossi-Santos
Co-supervisor: Dr. Mauricio Cantor
Thesis: Social organization of Guiana dolphin in the Todos os Santos Bay
What is she up to?
During her master’s Tainá will investigate the social structure of the Guiana dolphin population (Sotalia guianensis) that inhabits the Bay of Todos os Santos in Bahia, Brazil, using social proximity data and individual photo identification. In addition, she will compare aspects of the social organization, such as group composition and size, across populations, relating social patterns with environmental descriptors and resources availability along the distribution of the species.
João Victor Silva do Valle Pereira
2019-2021, MSc student at Graduate Programme in Ecology,
Institution: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
Supervisor: Prof. Fabio Daura-Jorge
Co-supervisor: Mauricio Cantor, PhD
Thesis: Individual behavioural variation among artisanal fishermen may affect the foraging cooperation with wild dolphins
What is he up to?
I am a biologist and have a Master’s degree in Ecology (2021) from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. My main areas of expertise and research are behavioral ecology, social structure, and cetaceans and artisanal fishers behavior. I am interested in the fishing dynamics in Laguna, where artisanal fishers fish with the assistance of wild bottlenose dolphins. I currently work as an outreach fellow of the Long-Term Ecological Research Program (PELD) of the Laguna and Adjacent Estuarine System (SELA) in Brazil, and as a guest researcher in the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour of the University of Konstanz (Germany). Besides that, the pillars of my curiosity are social behavior, evolution, and systemic theory, in addition to the people who continue to provide me with the fuel that keeps my quest for knowledge burning. Nature is splendid. “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees” (Henry Thoreau).
Kiera McGarvey Sears
2022, MSc student at University College Cork, Ireland
Institution: Oregon State University, USA
Co-supervisor: Mauricio Cantor, Prof. Emer Rogan, Prof. Fabio Daura-Jorge
Thesis: Parallel Lives: Do bottlenose dolphins cooperate amongst themselves when foraging with artisanal net-casting fishers?
What is she up to?
Kiera studied the fine-scale foraging coordination among bottlenose dolphins that interact with artisanal net-casting fishers in Laguna, southern Brazil, to investigate whether this foraging tactic represents a case of social predation for the dolphins. Kiera quantified the degree to which groups of dolphins coordinate their actions during their interactions with the artisanal fishers, by measuring the cohesion, heading, and breathing synchrony of dolphin groups of different sizes in aerial drone footage of the interaction. Kiera was a visiting MSc student from the University College Cork, carrying out her thesis at the Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University.
