Senior Research Scientist
Core Program
Animal Behavior & Senses
Research Program
Bioacoustics & Sensory Ecology of Marine Mammals
Education
B.A., Linguistics, University of California at San Diego
Ph.D., Marine Biology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Dr. Ann Bowles started her career at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute(HSWRI) as a volunteer wanting to apply what she had learned about the origins of human language to the communication of whales and dolphins. She started in 1978, shortly after the Institute was rededicated in the name of Carl and Laura Hubbs, received her Ph.D. in Marine Biology from theScripps Institution of Oceanography in 1994,and now leads the Animal Behavior and Senses Program. She has 46 years of experience in the study of animal behavior, sound production, perception of sound, and effects of human-made noise on marine and terrestrial species. She is best known for her work on the effects of human-made noise on animals. Her subjects have been a wide range of terrestrial and marine species, from spotted owls and kangaroo rats to humpback whales. The sound sources of concern have been diverse as well, ranging from intense geoacoustic sources and low-flying military aircraft to low-amplitude net alarms and ultrasonic coded transmitters. However, she has never lost her love of animal communication–thanks to HSWRI’s strong working partnership with SeaWorld and the SeaWorld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, she has carried out research on small whale communication consistent with her early dreams since 1986.She has served on a wide range of advisory panels for agencies and organizations such as the Office of Naval Research, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, National Park Service, and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. She helped develop current science-based criteria for protecting marine mammal hearing from noise and is involved in ongoing efforts to establish criteria for behavioral responses. She feels strongly about fostering young investigators in her field and has formal affiliations with the Department of Ocean and Environmental Sciences at the University of San Diego and the Department of Biology at the University of California at San Diego.She also participates in STEM-oriented outreach activities such as the American Association for University Women’s Tech Trek and Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering (BE WiSE) programs
Publications
Erbe C, Houser D, Bowles A, & Porter MB 2025 In Press. Marine Mammal Acoustics in a Noisy Ocean. Springer Nature, New York, NY. 829 pp.ISBN: 9783031770210
Erbe C, Murray A, Aulich M, Bowles A, Browne C, Elsdon B, Evans EK, Frankel A, Gavrilov A, Gosby C, Hawkins L, Jolliffe C, Hong Duc PN,&Wei C.2025 In Press. Mysticete sounds. Ch 3inErbe, C., Houser, D., Bowles, A., & Porter, M.B. (Eds) Marine Mammal Acoustics in a Noisy Ocean. Springer Nature, New York, NY. 829 pp.
Sousa-Lima RS, Azofeifa-Solano JC, da Silva VMF, Dantas GA, Carletti IM, Bowles A, Rountree R, & Erbe C. 2025 In Press. Sirenian sounds. Ch 7 in Erbe C, Houser D, Bowles A, & Porter MB. (Eds) Marine Mammal Acoustics in a Noisy Ocean. Springer Nature, New York, NY. 829 pp.
Selbmann A, Deecke VB, Filatova OA, Fedutin ID, Miller PJO, Simon M, Bowles AE, Lyrholm T, Sigurjónsson J, Lacey L, Magnúsdóttir EE, Maunder W, Wensveen PJ, Svavarsson J,&SamarraFIP.2023.Call type repertoire of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Iceland and its variation across different regions.Marine Mammal Science 2023: 1-25.
Southall BL, Nowacek DP, Bowles AE, Senigaglia V, Bejder L& Tyack PL. 2021. Marine mammal noise exposure criteria: Assessing the severity of marine mammal behavioral responses to human-made noise. Aquatic Mammals 47(5): 421-464.
Owen M, Pagano A, Wisdom S, Kirschoffer BJ, Bowles A, O’Neill C. 2020.Estimating the audibility of industrial noise to denning polar bears.Journal of Wildlife Management.85(2): 384–396.
Southall BL, Finneran JJ, Reichmuth C, Nachtigall PE, Ketten DR, Bowles AE, Ellison WT,Nowacek DP, & Tyack PL.2019.Marine mammal noise exposure criteria: updated scientific recommendations for residual hearing effects. Aquatic Mammals 45(2): 125-232.
◊Bowles AE, Musser WB, Clark KF, Denes SL, and Grebner DM. 2016.Perspectives on the function of behaviors synchronized with calling in female killer whales, Orcinus orca: patterns of bubbling and nodding in bouts. International Journal of Comparative Psychology 29: 1-16,Stan Kuczaj memorial volume.
◊Bowles AE, Grebner DM, Musser WB, Nash JS, & Crance JL. 2015.Disproportionate emission of bubble streams with killer whale biphonic calls: perspectives on production and function. JASA Express Letters 137(2): EL165-170.