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Investigating the effect of oil spills
on the environment and public health.
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Randall Wells

Chicago Zoological Society

Sarasota Dolphin Research Program

1600 Ken Thompson Parkway
Sarasota, FL  34236  

rwells@mote.org

Project List:

Consortium for Advanced Research on Marine Mammal Health Assessment (CARMMHA)

Year 8-10 Research Grants (RFP-VI)Role: Co-Principal Investigator, Task Lead

Investigation of Mechanisms for Reproductive Failure in the Aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill to Understand Population Recovery Scenarios for Cetaceans

Year 6-8 Investigator Grants (RFP-V)Role: Research Scientist

Impacts of the 2010 Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill on Estuarine Bottlenose Dolphin Populations in the West Florida Panhandle

Year One Block Grant - Florida Institute of OceanographyRole: Co-Principal Investigator

Publications & Presentations:

Journal Articles - 6

2021

Cloyed, C. S., Balmer, B. C., Schwacke, L. H., Takeshita, R., Hohn, A., Wells, R. S., et al. (2021). Linking morbillivirus exposure to individual habitat use of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) between geographically different sites. J Anim Ecol, 90(5), 1191–1204.

2020

Herrman, J. M., Morey, J. S., Takeshita, R., De Guise, S., Wells, R. S., McFee, W., et al. (2020). Age determination of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) using dental radiography pulp:tooth area ratio measurements. PLoS ONE, 15(11), e0242273.
Linnehan, B. K., Hsu, A., Gomez, F. M., Huston, S. M., Takeshita, R., Colegrove, K. M., et al. (2020). Standardization of Dolphin Cardiac Auscultation and Characterization of Heart Murmurs in Managed and Free-Ranging Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Front. Vet. Sci., 7.

2019

Barratclough, A., Wells, R. S., Schwacke, L. H., Rowles, T. K., Gomez, F. M., Fauquier, D. A., et al. (2019). Health Assessments of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): Past, Present, and Potential Conservation Applications. Front. Vet. Sci., 6.
De Guise, S., Levin, M. J., Jasperse, L., Risatti, G., & Wells, R. (2019). T Helper Cell Subsets And Their Functions In Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Frontiers in Immunology, 10, Article 1578.

2018

Galligan, T. M., Schwacke, L. H., Houser, D. S., Wells, R. S., Rowles, T., & Boggs, A. S. P. (2018). Characterization of circulating steroid hormone profiles in the bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). General and Comparative Endocrinology, 263, 80–91.

Conference Presentations - 15

2020

De Guise, S., Levin, M., Jasperse, L., Herrman, J., Wells, R., Takeshita, R., et al. (2020). Changes in Bottlenose Dolphin Immune Functions Associated With the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Northern Gulf of Mexico – A Recurrence? In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2020. Tampa, FL : 02/03/20-02/06/20: Poster.
Gomez, F., Colegrove, K., Huston, S., Hsu, A., Linnehan, B., Takeshita, R., et al. (2020). Assessment of Sublethal Cardiac Injury in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Gulf of Mexico Following Exposure to Deepwater Horizon Oil-Associated Chemicals. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2020. Tampa, FL : 02/03/20-02/06/20: Poster.
Morey, J. S., Balmer, B. C., Zolman, E. S., Takeshita, R., Rowles, T. K., Smith, C. R., et al. (2020). Transcriptomic Analyses of Bottlenose Dolphin Blood and Skin to Identify Additional Biomarkers and Pathways to Inform Cetacean Health Assessment. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2020. Tampa, FL : 02/03/20-02/06/20: Poster.
Schwacke, L. H., Smith, C., Gomez, F., Rowles, T., Wells, R., Zolman, E., et al. (2020). Health Trends of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the eight years following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Evidence for lack of resilience. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2020. Tampa, FL : 02/03/20-02/06/20.
Takeshita, R., Rowles, T. K., Balmer, B. C., Zolman, E. S., Thomas, L., Wells, R., et al. (2020). Health and Behavioral Responses of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Low Salinity Waters Within the Barataria Basin in Louisiana. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2020. Tampa, FL : 02/03/20-02/06/20: Poster.

2019

De Guise, S., Levin, M., Jasperse, L., Gebhard, E., Herrman, J., Smith, C., et al. (2019). Changes in bottlenose dolphin immune functions associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico, a recurrence? In World Marine Mammal Conference 2019. Barcelona, Spain : 12/09/19-12/12/19.
De Guise, S., Levin, M., Jasperse, L., Gebhard, E., Herrmann, J., Smith, C., et al. (2019). Recurrence of Bottlenose Dolphin Immune Function Changes Associated With the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2019. New Orleans, LA : 02/04/19-02/07/19.
Gomez, F., Colegrove, K., Huston, S., Hsu, A., Linnehan, B., Takeshita, R., et al. (2019). Assessment of sublethal cardiac injury in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Gulf of Mexico following exposure to Deepwater Horizon oil associated chemicals. In World Marine Mammal Conference 2019. Barcelona, Spain : 12/09/19-12/12/19.
Schwacke, L. H., Thomas, L., Smith, C., Bossart, G., Burt, L., De Guise, S., et al. (2019). Veterinary Expert System for Outcome Prediction (VESOP): A Bayesian model to predict changes in cetacean population vital rates from measures of individual health. In World Marine Mammal Conference 2019. Barcelona, Spain : 12/09/19-12/12/19.
Smith, C., Gomez, F., Colegrove, C., Rowles, T., Balmer, B., Takeshita, R., et al. (2019). The Long-Term Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Bottlenose Dolphins and the Development of Advanced Diagnostic Tools to Better Characterize Injury and Recovery. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2019. New Orleans, LA : 02/04/19-02/07/19.
Smith, C., Gomez, F., Ivancic, M., Musser, W., Barratclough, A., Meegan, J., et al. (2019). New diagnostic techniques to characterize fetal, placental, and maternal health in bottlenose dolphins following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In World Marine Mammal Conference 2019. Barcelona, Spain : 12/09/19-12/12/19.
Takeshita, R., Balmer, B., Zolman, E., Thomas, L., Wells, R., Rowles, T., et al. (2019). Behavioral responses of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to changes in salinity within the Barataria Basin in Louisiana. In World Marine Mammal Conference 2019. Barcelona, Spain : 12/09/19-12/12/19.
Wells, R. (2019). Cetaceans as sentinels of ecosystem health in the Gulf of Mexico. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2019. New Orleans, LA : 02/04/19-02/07/19.

2017

Smith, C., Schwacke, L., Venn-Watson, S., Gomez, F., Sharp, S., Rowles, T., et al. (2017). Investigating Mechanisms for Reproductive Failure Among Bottlenose Dolphins in the Aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. In Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference 2017. New Orleans, LA : 02/06/17-02/09/17.

2011

Worthy, G., Shippee, S., Ostrom, P., Wells, R., Allen, J., & Barleycorn, A. (2011). Fine scale feeding habits of bottlenose dolphins in the western Florida panhandle as assessed by stable isotope signature analysis. In Biology of Marine Mammals Conference. Tampa, Florida, November 27 - December 2, 2011.