Dr Patrick Miller
Lecturer

My research focuses on social communication and behavioral ecology of marine mammals. I record and describe the behaviour patterns of marine mammals in order to elucidate their function, often using novel research tools. I seek to unravel how the marine environment influences foraging, social interactions, and swimming behaviour.

Current Projects

Foraging and social behaviour of sperm whales

Sperm whales are prodigious divers. We have used acoustic and motion-recording suction-cup tags their diving, sound production, and resting behaviour. We now know that sperm whales spend over 50% of their time actively pursuing prey at depth. My lab is working to describe other aspects of sperm whale behaviour, including how and when sperm whales rest, and possibly sleep, within their busy dive schedule.

Diverse feeding habits of killer whales:mammal –eaters versus herring - herders

Killer whales are generalist predators as a species, but each population is remarkably specialized on certain prey types. This project seeks to describe how prey type might relate to population-level differences in foraging and social behaviour.

Effects of noise on communication

To be effective in communication, signals must be detected and decoded in the presence of noise. I am using animal models ranging from the fruit fly D montana to the humpback whale to explore how noise influences communication systems and how signallers might respond to noise within ecological and evolutionary time scales.