Eighteen years of visual survey and strandings data were used to describe baleen whale occurrence along the continental shelf of Virginia and North Carolina, U.S.A. This region experiences heavy anthropogenic use, which poses risks for mortality and injury to baleen whales. Between 2001 and 2019, six species of baleen whales were recorded, and whales occurred year‐round. The total number of (on‐ and off‐effort) sightings and s...

The complex population structure of Tamanend's bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops erebennus ) along the U.S. Mid‐Atlantic coast complicates assessment of their bycatch. To improve our understanding of the stock identity of individual dolphins taken as bycatch in this region, we compared images of the dorsal fins of bottlenose dolphins that stranded with evidence of fishery interactions (FI+) to the Mid‐Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin...

Six baleen whale species are found in the temperate western North Atlantic Ocean, with limited information existing on the distribution and movement patterns for most. There is mounting evidence of distributional shifts in many species, including marine mammals, likely because of climate‐driven changes in ocean temperature and circulation. Previous acoustic studies examined the occurrence of minke ( Balaenoptera acutorostrata...

Harmful algal blooms ( HAB s), which can be lethal in marine species and cause illness in humans, are increasing worldwide. In the Gulf of Mexico, HAB s of Karenia brevis produce neurotoxic brevetoxins that cause large‐scale marine mortality events. The long history of such blooms, combined with the potentially severe effects of exposure, may have produced a strong selective pressure for evolved resistance. Advances in next‐ge...

Host–parasite coevolution is potentially of great importance in producing and maintaining biological diversity. However, there is a lack of evidence for parasites directly driving genetic change. We examined the impact of an epidemic of the bacterium Pasteuria ramosa on a natural population of the crustacean Daphnia magna through the use of molecular markers (allozymes) and laboratory experiments to determine the susceptibilit...

Recent work has shown that the evolution of Drosophila melanogaster resistance to attack by the parasitoid Asobara tabida is constrained by a trade‐off with larval competitive ability. However, there are two very important questions that need to be answered. First, is this a general cost, or is it parasitoid specific? Second, does a selected increase in immune response against one parasitoid species result in a correlated chan...