Susan E. Parks Explained

Susan Parks is an ecologist at Syracuse University known for her research on acoustic signaling and the impact of ambient noise on communication in marine mammals.

Education and career

Parks obtained a B.A. in Biology from Cornell University (1998) and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2003).[1] Following her time in Woods Hole, Parks was a postdoctoral investigator at Cornell University before joining the faculty at Pennsylvania State University. Parks is currently an associate professor of Biology at Syracuse University.[2]

Research

At a young age, Parks' father introduced her to recordings of whale sounds and, in a 2010 interview, Parks describes the connection between this moment and an undergraduate animal behavior class that led her to a research project with frogs and ultimately her Ph.D. research on right whales.[3] During her Ph.D., Parks used an historical archive of whale sounds and determined that right whale calls increased in volume when ambient noise levels increased.[4] [5] Parks has also used tags temporarily placed on right whales to study their ecology[6] and research by Holly Root-Gutteridge, a postdoctoral investigator working with Parks, has revealed that right whale songs change over a whale's lifespan.[7] By tracking the 'gunshot' sound made by right whales, Parks and colleagues determined that right whales use Roseway Basin, a region of the Scotian Shelf, from August to November as an area for breeding.[8] [9]

Through the use of sound, Parks has also examined the connection between higher temperatures and sound in katydids,[10] traffic noise and frogs,[11] [12] and seals that may not be loud enough to overcome noise levels from human activities.[13] Parks, Jennifer Miksis-Olds, and Samuel Denes have used sound to define the bounds of biological habitats.[14] Whales vary the noises they make and Parks' research has described the soft sounds used by mother and calf pairs as 'whispers' which may avoid the unwanted attention of predators.[15] [16] The clock-like sounds in humpback whales could be a signal to nearby whales about the presence of food or a means to get the whales' prey to come out of the sand.[17] [18] After the 9/11 attacks, an unplanned collaboration between Parks, Rosalind Rolland, and a team of researchers[19] [20] concluded that a short-term reduction in ship noise altered hormone levels in whales.[21] [22]

In addition to her research, Parks mentors women in science and in 2016 Parks said she "...wanted to be a senior scientist in the field to provide young women an example of a female role model."[23]

Awards

Notes and References

  1. Parks. Susan Elizabeth. Acoustic communication in the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). 2003. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Woods Hole, MA. en. 10.1575/1912/2453. 1912/2453. Thesis. free.
  2. Web site: Curriculum Vitae . . 26 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230726104630/https://artsandsciences.syracuse.edu/media/documents/Parks-Curriculum-Vitae-2018_Ia3JKgc.pdf . 2023-07-26 . en . March 2018 . live.
  3. News: Bradbury. Kelsey. November 16, 2010. Catching up with Susan Parks. Penn State News.
  4. Parks. Susan E.. Johnson. Mark. Nowacek. Douglas. Tyack. Peter L.. 2011-02-23. Individual right whales call louder in increased environmental noise. Biology Letters. 7. 1. 33–35. 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0451. 3030867. 20610418.
  5. Winner. Cherie. November 10, 2010. Are Whales 'Shouting' to be Heard?. Oceanus. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 2021-05-25.
  6. News: Slivka. Kelly. 2012-08-20. A Whale, a Tag, a Mission. en-US. New York Times. 2021-05-25.
  7. 2018-03-01. A lifetime of changing calls: North Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena glacialis, refine call production as they age. Animal Behaviour. en. 137. 21–34. 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.12.016. 0003-3472. Root-Gutteridge. Holly. Cusano. Dana A.. Shiu. Yu. Nowacek. Douglas P.. Van Parijs. Sofie M.. Parks. Susan E.. 53145542. free.
  8. Matthews. Leanna P.. McCordic. Jessica A.. Parks. Susan E.. 2014-03-19. Remote Acoustic Monitoring of North Atlantic Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) Reveals Seasonal and Diel Variations in Acoustic Behavior. PLOS ONE. en. 9. 3. e91367. 10.1371/journal.pone.0091367. 1932-6203. 3960123. 24646524. 2014PLoSO...991367M. free.
  9. Web site: 2014-03-26. Endangered whales are breeding in a busy shipping lane. 2021-05-26. Futurity. en-US.
  10. Cusano. Dana A.. Matthews. Leanna P.. Grapstein. Elyna. Parks. Susan E.. 2016. Effects of increasing temperature on acoustic advertisement in the Tettigoniidae. Journal of Orthoptera Research. 25. 1. 39–47. 10.1665/034.025.0101. 24892490. 89187220. 1082-6467. free.
  11. Tennessen. Jennifer B.. Parks. Susan E.. Swierk. Lindsey. Reinert. Laura K.. Holden. Whitney M.. Rollins-Smith. Louise A.. Walsh. Koranda A.. Langkilde. Tracy. 2018-11-21. Frogs adapt to physiologically costly anthropogenic noise. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285. 1891. 20182194. 10.1098/rspb.2018.2194. 6253376. 30464067.
  12. Web site: Traffic noise stresses out frogs, but some have adapted Penn State University. 2021-05-25. news.psu.edu. en.
  13. Matthews. Leanna P.. Fournet. Michelle E. H.. Gabriele. Christine. Klinck. Holger. Parks. Susan E.. 2020-04-29. Acoustically advertising male harbour seals in southeast Alaska do not make biologically relevant acoustic adjustments in the presence of vessel noise. Biology Letters. 16. 4. 20190795. 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0795. 7211458. 32264795.
  14. Parks. Susan E.. Miksis-Olds. Jennifer L.. Denes. Samuel L.. 2014. Assessing marine ecosystem acoustic diversity across ocean basins. Ecological Informatics. en. 21. 81–88. 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2013.11.003.
  15. Daley. Jason. October 11, 2019. North Atlantic Right Whale Mamas Whisper to Their Babies to Keep Them Safe. Smithsonian Magazine. en. Smithsonian Institution. 2021-05-25.
  16. Parks. Susan E.. Cusano. Dana A.. Van Parijs. Sofie M.. Nowacek. Douglas P.. 2019-10-31. Acoustic crypsis in communication by North Atlantic right whale mother–calf pairs on the calving grounds. Biology Letters. 15. 10. 20190485. 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0485. 6832179. 31594493.
  17. Web site: 2014-12-17. Why do whales make 'tick-tock' noises? Find out!. 2021-05-25. Deccan Chronicle. en.
  18. Parks. Susan E.. Cusano. Dana A.. Stimpert. Alison K.. Weinrich. Mason T.. Friedlaender. Ari S.. Wiley. David N.. 2014-12-16. Evidence for acoustic communication among bottom foraging humpback whales. Scientific Reports. en. 4. 1. 7508. 10.1038/srep07508. 2045-2322. 4267198. 25512188. 2014NatSR...4E7508P.
  19. News: Struck. Doug. October 12, 2014. The whale savers. Christian Science Monitor.
  20. News: Lindsay. Jay. 2012-02-20. Unplanned 9/11 analysis links noise, whale stress. en-US. Washington Post. 2021-05-26. 0190-8286.
  21. Rolland. Rosalind M.. Parks. Susan E.. Hunt. Kathleen E.. Castellote. Manuel. Corkeron. Peter J.. Nowacek. Douglas P.. Wasser. Samuel K.. Kraus. Scott D.. 2012-06-22. Evidence that ship noise increases stress in right whales. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279. 1737. 2363–2368. 10.1098/rspb.2011.2429. 3350670. 22319129.
  22. Web site: Cave. James. 2015-01-14. The Ingenious Way Humpback Whales Hunt In Pitch-Black Waters At Night. 2021-05-26. HuffPost. en.
  23. News: Lagan. Susan. 2016-08-18. Female champions of science. en-US. The Royal Gazette. 2021-05-23.
  24. Web site: Four faculty members to receive Presidential Early Career Awards Penn State University. 2021-05-23. news.psu.edu. en.
  25. Web site: President Honors Outstanding Early-Career Scientists. 2021-05-23. www.nsf.gov. English.
  26. Web site: Susan Parks. 2021-05-25. www.nasonline.org.

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