Dr. Valeria Vergara, PhD
Senior Scientist and Cetacean Conservation Research Program Director

Peer reviewed publications

Aubin, J. A., Mikus, M.-A., Michaud, R., Mennill, D., & Vergara, V. (2023). Fly with care: belugas show evasive responses to low altitude drone flights. Marine Mammal Science, 1– 22. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12997

Lagrois, D., Chion, C., Sénécal, J-F, Kowalski, C., Michaud, R. and Vergara, V. 2022. Avoiding Sharp Accelerations can Mitigate the Impacts of a Ferry’s Radiated Noise on the St. Lawrence Whales. Scientific Reports 12, 12111. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16060-2

Vergara, V., Wood, J., Lesage, V., Ames, A., Mikus, MA., and Michaud, R. 2021. Can you hear me? Impacts of underwater noise on communication space of adult, sub-adult, and calf contact calls of endangered St. Lawrence belugas (D. leucas). Polar Research 40, 5521. D0I: https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v40.5521

Bates, A. E., Mangubhai, S., Milanés , C. B., Rodgers, K., and Vergara, V. 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic as a pivot point for biological conservation. Nature Communications 12, 5176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25399-5

Bates, A. E., Primack, R. B., PAN-Environment Working Group, and Duarte, C. M. 2021. Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment. Biological Conservation, 109175.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109175 (V. Vergara member of the PAN-Environment Working Group). 

Ames, A. and Vergara, V. 2020. Trajectories of vocal repertoire development in beluga calves: insights from studies a decade apart. Aquatic Mammals 46(4): 344-366

Vergara, V. and Mikus, M. 2019.  Contact Call Diversity in Natural Beluga Entrapments in an Arctic Estuary: Preliminary Evidence of Vocal Signatures in Wild Belugas. Marine Mammal Science 35(2): 434-465. DOI: 10.1111/mms.12538

Vergara, V. and Barrett-Lennard, L.  2017. Call usage learning by a beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) in a categorical matching task.  Int J Comp Psychol 30: 1-20

Vergara, V., Michaud, R. and Barrett-Lennard, L. G. 2010. What can captive whales tell us about their wild counterparts? 

Identification, usage and ontogeny of contact calls in belugas. Int J Comp Psychol Psychol 23: 278-309 

Leung, E., Vergara, V. and Barrett-Lennard, L. 2010. Allonursing in captive belugas (Delphinapterus leucas). Zoo Biology 29:1-5 

Vergara, V. and Barrett-Lennard, L.  2008. Vocal development in a beluga calf (D. leucas).  Aquatic Mammals 34: 123-143 

Vergara, V. 2000. Comparison of parental roles in male and female red foxes, V. vulpes, in southern Ontario. Can. Field-Nat. 115(1): 22-33

Vergara, V. 2000. Two cases of infanticide in a red fox, V. vulpes, family in southern Ontario. Can. Field-Nat. 115(1): 170-173

Technical reports

Vergara, V., Dearden, A., Chapman, J., and Miller, A. 2021. Understanding underwater noise pollution from marine vessels and its impacts on whales, dolphins and porpoises. Ocean Watch Spotlight Report. Ocean Wise Conservation Association. https://assets.ctfassets.net/fsquhe7zbn68/24WS9Xs6rrOp9ziqapeN7o/3d35140ba2b4d651947c489e56753002/OceanWatch-UnderwaterNoise.pdf

Dearden, A., Chapman,  J., Miller, A., Vergara, V., Haulena, M., Akhurst, L., Dares, L., and Rowley, A. 2020. COVID-19: A story of marine mammals. Ocean Watch Spotlight. Ocean Wise Conservation Association, Vancouver, Canada. 16 pg. ISBN: 978-1-7772408-4-4

Vergara, V. 2019. Framework for noise-related metrics ecologically relevant for beluga whales, with emphasis on the St Lawrence Estuary Beluga Population. Report prepared for Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), Mar 2015, 21pp.

Heise, K.A., Barrett-Lennard, L.G., Chapman, N.R., Dakin, D.T., Erbe, C., Hannay, D.E., Merchant, N.D., Pilkington, J.S., Thornton, S.J., Tollit, Veirs, V.R., Vergara, V., Wood, J.D., Yurk, H.  2017. Proposed Metrics for the management of underwater noise for Southern Resident Killer Whales. Coastal Ocean Institute Report Series 2, Vancouver, 30pp.

Wood, J. and Vergara, V. 2014. Potential for masking of Southern Resident Killer Whale Calls and Echolocation Clicks due to Underwater Noise. Port Metro Vancouver Report Series, December 2014, SMRU Canada Ltd. 45pp.

Vergara, V., Michaud, R. and Barrett-Lennard, L. G. 2009. Contact call usage in a wild beluga population: Challenges and lessons of a playback study. Report prepared for DFO, Canada, March 2009. 10pp.  

Proulx, G. and Vergara, V. 2001. Wildlife habitat attributes for wildlife tree patch quality assessment in CANFOR’s managed landscapes.  Alpha Wildlife Research and Management Ltd. 64pp.

Selected lectures and conference presentations

Vergara, V. et al. 2019. Impacts of underwater noise on mother-calf contact in endangered belugas. World Marine Mammal Conference. Dec 9-12, Barcelona, Spain.  

Vergara, V. et al. 2019. Impacts of underwater noise on mother-calf contact in endangered belugas. International Workshop on Beluga Whale Research and Conservation. March 12-14, Mystic, CT, USA. 

Vergara, V. 2019. The Story Collider. Public presentation for Canada’s Science Literacy Week. Sep 17, Vancouver, BC. 

Vergara, V. 2019. From Canada to Argentina: Studying belugas and killer whales, two cultural species. Public presentation at the CIMM (Centre d’Interprétation des Mammifères Marins). Jul 29, Tadoussac, QC.

Vergara, V. 2019. Acoustic communication in belugas: A sound-centered species in today’s noisy world. Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Biology Seminar Series. Feb 1 (remote seminar).  

Vergara, V. 2019. Do beluga whales have vocal signatures? Ocean Wise Public Lecture Series. Jan 19, Vancouver, BC. 

Vergara, V. 2018. Contact-call diversity in an Arctic estuary: Preliminary evidence of vocal signatures in wild belugas. BC Marine Mammal Symposium. University of British Columbia, Nov 24, Vancouver, BC.  

Vergara, V. and Mikus, M. 2017. Multiple natural replicates in an Arctic estuary provide evidence of signature calls in wild belugas. 22^nd Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Oct 22-27, Halifax, NS.  

Vergara, V. 2016. Sounds of the Sea. Creative Mornings International Lecture Series. Dec 02, 2016.

Vergara, V. and Michaud, R. 2015. Bird’s eye viewing and underwater eavesdropping: a marriage of technologies to 

advance beluga whale research. 21^st Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Dec 11-19, San Francisco. 

Vergara, V. and Barrett-Lennard, L.  2015. A quiet haven in a noisy world: baseline data on critical contact calls in a pristine beluga nursery habitat. 21st Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Dec 11-19, San Francisco.

McKillop, M., Vergara, V., Barrett-Lennard, L.G. 2010. Potential impacts of shipping noise on mother-calf acoustic contact in belugas. Abstracts of the 24th Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 

Vergara, V. 2008. Identification, usage, and ontogeny of contact calls in belugas (D. leucas).  International Conference on Vocal Communication in Birds and Mammals. Jul 31-Aug 2.  St Andrews, Scotland. 

Vergara, V. 2007. Acoustic communication and vocal learning in belugas (D.leucas). First International Workshop on Beluga Whale Research, husbandry, and management. March 9-12, Valencia, Spain. 

Vergara, V. 2005. I say potato, you say potahto: Categorical matching of in-air calls by a juvenile beluga (D. leucas).  16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, San Diego, Dec 10-16.