Animal Behavior & Senses Postdoctoral Research Associate
Core Program
Animal Behavior & Senses
Research Program
Sensory Ecology and Cognitive Behavior of Marine Mammals
Education
B.A., 2012 Southern Methodist University
M.A., 2016 The University of Southern Mississippi
Ph.D., 2019 The University of Southern Mississippi
Dr. Audra Ames is a bioacoustician specializing in the communication of toothed whales, completing her Master’s thesis on bottlenose dolphin signature whistle development in 2016 and her PhD on vocal development in beluga calves in 2019. Dr. Ames started as a postdoctoral research associate in the Animal Behavior and Senses Laboratory at Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute in December 2023 after being based as a research scientist at Oceanogràfic aquarium (Valencia, Spain) since 2016. Currently, Dr. Ames has projects involving bottlenose dolphins, belugas, narwhals, and pilot whales, and she is interested in understanding how human-made noise impacts the communication systems of these species.
Publications
Ames, A. E., Agustí, C., Dick, F., Talló-Parra, O., Price, A., Álvaro Álvarez, T., García Párraga, D., Arenarez Lozano, J., González Quintero, A., Rincon Monne, A., Ten-Esteve, A., Almendros Riaza, A., Uus, A., Gomez, M., Marti-Bonmati, L., Shinn-Cunningham, B., & Tyack, P.L. (2024). Monitoring bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) welfare during a functional neuroimaging study. Aquatic Mammals, 50(6), 495-525.
Ames, A. E. (2022). Yawn-Like Behavior in a Beluga Whale (Delphinapterus leucas). Aquatic Mammals, 48(6), 495-500.
Ames, A. E., Blackwell, S.B., Tervo, O.M., & Heide-Jørgensen, M.P. (2021). Evidence of stereotyped contact call use in narwhal (Monodon monoceros) mother-calf communication. PLoS ONE, 16(8): e0254393. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254393
Ames, A. E., Beedholm, K., & Madsen, P. (2020). Lateralization of sound production in the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas). Journal of Experimental Biology, 223, jeb226316. doi:10.1242/jeb.226316
Ames, A. E. & Vergara, V. (2020). Trajectories of vocal repertoire development in beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) calves: insights from studies a decade apart. Aquatic Mammals, 46(4), 344-366. doi: 10.1578/AM.46.4.2020.344