Laura J May-Collado, Ph.D.

"Science may be a career for some, but for most of us it is also a calling, a calling to uncover the beauty that lies hidden in the remarkable biology of organisms..." Dr. Leticia Aviles, Behavioral Ecology Scientist.

Assistant Professor. Department of Biology, University of Vermont.
Chair of the Committee of Scientific Advisors, The Society of Marine Mammalogy.
Research Associate, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, SI.
Program Director of Life Science Scholar, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Vermont

Phone: (802) 656-4138
Office: 215 MLS; Lab 224
Department of Biology, UVM
Email: lmaycoll@uvm.edu

Google Scholar Page

Dolphins of Bocas del Toro, one of our main study sites. Video by Ph.D. Candidate Betzi Perez & Panacetacea

Marine Mammal Summer Course in Panama 2019. Video by Ph.D. Candidate Betzi Perez.

Interests: Evolution, Behavior, Conservation

I am an integrative marine biologist with a research focus on sound as a tool to study marine communities and marine mammal communication and behavior. My research involves the use of phylogenies, field observations, autonomous underwater recording systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles to understand the evolutionary and ecological factors shaping marine communities and marine animal communicative signals. My students work on projects including the application of soundscape tools to predict marine biodiversity, humpback whale, dolphin and fish sound emission, impact of underwater noise on marine mammal communication and habitat use, cetacean population dynamics, social structure, genetics, hormones and more.

Lab News

Biologist Laura May-Collado Named President’s Distinguished Lecturer

In 2016 we started our ONDAS initiative with this SM2M+ recorder. Five years later ONDAS consist of nine autonomous recorders distributed across the Pacific coast of Central America. To celebrate this regional collaboration here is a video of our very first deployment lead by Costa Rican biologists Jose David Palacios.

Checking things are ok before cutting the extra plastic holding the recorder. You can hear a humpback whale on the background. Credit Jose David Palacios

Fish are a talkative bunch! Listen to their chatting in this video.
Credit Jose David Palacios

Supporting the coastal communities where our research takes place: Covid-19 is having devastating economical impacts in Bocas del Toro (Panama) community. This is one of our research sites in Central America where we study the acoustic behavior of toadfish and bottlenose dolphins and the overall soundscape ecology of different marine communities. Tourism fulls the economy of Bocas, the 6 month shutdown of the industry is having devastating effects on many families. Graduate student Betzi Perez and collaborators from Panacetacea, ran a fundraiser to provide food to the families of Bocas. We owe them, and this is our way to give back to the people of Bocas who have support our research for almost two decades.

Our ONDAS Project is a network of underwater recorders deployed throughout Central America to study marine mammals and their acoustic space. This type of work is made possible by collaborations with NGOs and governments. Here is the Director de Mar y Costas, of the Ministry of the Environment in Panama, discussing the value of this collaboration there efforts to protect marine biodiversity.

Kate Ziegler is the recipient of the Joan M. Herbers Award in Biology. Congratulations Kate!!!!

From left top: Emma, Riley, Danielle, Natalia, Shelby. From left bottom: Kahlia, Laura, Betzi Riley received the Kurt Milton Pickett Award in Biology! congratulations!

Congratulations to Kahlia and Natalia for winning the regional student award at the World Marine Mammal Conference, Barcelona 2019!

CURE Lab on Soundscapes and Behavior 2019 wrapping up research projects!

Adriana Arce, graduate student at University of Costa Rica installing a new underwater recorder in Cano Island. This project is part of a regional collaboration with Panamanian, Costa Rican, and US Scientists studying northern and southern humpback whale songs and the acoustic space of these migratory animals (Photo by Ronald Monge)

This summer a group of 16 UVM undergraduate students participated in my long-term bottlenose dolphin project collecting photo-ID, behavioral, distribution, and acoustic data. Several of these students are developing their Honor Thesis on topics ranging from calf mortality, population size, social networks, soundscapes, to acoustic structure of communicative signals of these dolphins. Super exciting for them to work in the field with the dolphins they have been researching in the lab for over a year.