As University of Rhode Island graduate student Tara Stevens nears completion of her doctorate at the Graduate School of Oceanography, she is already celebrating publication of her first book, Whales and Dolphins of Atlantic Canada and Northeast United States.
Published by Boulder Publications, which publishes a series of field guides to wildlife in the Canadian Maritimes, the book not only profiles 27 species of whales and dolphins found in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, it also provides information about research techniques for studying whales and other oceanographic information not usually found in field guides.
“I wanted this book to be set apart from other field guides,” said Stevens, who grew up in Troy, Maine, and now lives in North Kingstown, R.I. “It contains information that the general public can enjoy, as well as a higher level of detail on some topics.”
Stevens had no plans to write a field guide to whales until she was contacted by the publisher, who said she was recommended by one of Canada’s leading authorities on whales, Hal Whitehead. Whitehead had heard about Stevens’ research on killer whales off the coast of Newfoundland and didn’t have time to write the book himself, so he recommended the URI student, with whom he had collaborated in the past.
Writing the book took Stevens two years and included a collaboration with her mother, Patricia Stevens, an artist who provided all of the book’s illustrations.
The biggest challenge was making the time to complete the project. Stevens was in the midst of her killer whale research, and it was difficult to focus on her studies and the book at the same time. With hard work, she was able to solve that problem and added a chapter about her research into her book.
Stevens is conducting the first study of killer whale behavior in the Northwest Atlantic. Working with URI marine scientist emeritus Robert Kenney, she is examining feeding behavior, acoustic behavior, social behavior and other aspects of their ecology.
When she completes her Ph.D. in 2014, Stevens hopes to study whales for a government agency or study underwater sounds for contractors working with the U.S. Navy.
For more information, see the related press release.
Photo courtesy of Tara Stevens
Media Contact: Todd McLeish, 401-874-7892