Publications

McGinnity, C., Bamford, C.C.G., Fenney, N., Fleming, A., Forcada, J., Tift, M.S., Hückstädt, L.A., Costa, D.P. and Fretwell, P.T. (2026), Semi-automated seal detection on the Western Antarctic Peninsula: an unsupervised machine learning approach for detecting ice seals in aerial survey data. Remote Sens Ecol Conserv. https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.70060

Jackson, O. N., Keenan, T. F., Nelson-Maney, N. P., Rommel, S. A., McLellan, W. A., Pabst, D. A., Costidis, A. M., Caron, K. M., Kernagis, D. N., Rotstein, D. S., Thayer, V. G., Harms, C. A., Piscitelli-Doshkov, M. A., Doshkov, P., Schweikert, L. E., Yopak, K. E., Braun, M., & Tift, M. S. (2025). Meningeal Lymphatic and Glymphatic Structures in a Pelagic Delphinid (Delphinus delphis). Animals, 15(5), 729. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15050729

Keenan TF, Jackson ON, Nelson-Maney NP, Rommel SA, McLellan WA, Pabst DA, Costidis AM, Caron KM, Kernagis DN, Rotstein DS, Braun M, Tift MS. Morphology of the glymphatic and meningeal lymphatic structures of the bottlenose dolphin (2025). Scientific Reports. 15(1):30216. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-14840-0. PMID: 40825973; PMCID: PMC12361473.

Keenan, T. F., McLellan,W. A., Rommel, S. A., Costidis, A. M., Harms, C. A., Thewissen, J. G. M., Rehorek, S. J., Rotstein, D. S., Gay, M. D., Taylor, A. R., Koopman, H. N., Wang, Y., Kamel, S., & Pabst, D. A. (2025). Histochemical indications for a chemically complex signal produced by the cervical gill slit gland of the pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps). The Anatomical Record, 308(9), 2413–2432. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25628  

Costa DP, Holser RR, Keates TR, Adachi T, Beltran RS, Champagne CD, Crocker DE, Favilla AB, Fowler MA, Gallo-Reynoso JP, Goetsch C, Hassrick JL, Hückstädt LA, Kendall-Bar JM, Kienle SS, Kuhn CE, Maresh JL, Maxwell SM, McDonald BI, McHuron EA, Morris PA, Naito Y, Pallin LJ, Peterson SH, Robinson PW, Simmons SE, Takahashi A, Teuschel NM, Tift MS, Tremblay Y, Villegas-Amtmann S, Yoda K. Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals. Sci Data. (2024);11(1):1357. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-04084-4. PMID: 39695180; PMCID: PMC11655967.

Favilla, A., Adamczak, S., Fougeres, E., Brownlow, A., Davison, N., McLellan, W.A., Pabst, D.A., Doeschate, M., Tift, M.S., Wells, R., Costa, D.P. (2024) Examining Bergmann’s rule in a cosmopolitan marine mammal, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Marine Mammal Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13130

Pearson, A.B., Huckstadt, L.A., Kinsey, S.T., Schmitt, T.L., Robeck, T.R., St. Leger, J., Ponganis, P.J., Tift, M.S. (2023). Relationship between red blood cell lifespan and endogenous carbon monoxide in the common bottlenose dolphin and beluga. Americal Journal of Physiology - Regulatory , Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Volume 326, Issue 2https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00172.202

Heinrich EC, Tift MS. Lessons in immune adaptations to hypoxia revealed by comparative and evolutionary physiology. (2023). BMC Biology. ;21(1):295. doi: 10.1186/s12915-023-01788-8. PMID: 38155344; PMCID: PMC10755932.

Denk M, McLellan W, Pabst DA, Rommel S, Keenan T, Sharp S, Niemeyer M, Hunter N, Block G, Nelson N, Harms C. (2023). Melon and rostral muscle morphology of Gervais' beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus): Alternating patterns of bilateral asymmetry. The Anatomical Record. 633 – 657. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25301

Olmstead AR, Mathieson OL, McLellan WA, Pabst DA, Keenan TF, Goldstein T, Erwin PM. (2023). Gut bacterial communities in Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) throughout a disease-driven (Morbillivirus) unusual mortality event. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 99(9). https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiad097

Miller ML, Glandon HL, Tift MS, Pabst DA and Koopman HN (2022) Remarkable consistency of spinal cord microvasculature in highly adapted diving odontocetes. Front. Physiol. 13:1011869. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.1011869

Keenan, T.F., McLellan, W.A., Rommel, S.A., Costidis, A.M., Harms, C.A., Thewissen, H.J., Rotstein, D.S., Gay, M.D., Potter, C.W., Taylor, A.R. and Wang, Y., (2021). Gross and histological morphology of the cervical gill slit gland of the pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps). The Anatomical Record, 1– 16.  https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24707

Keenan-Bateman, T.F., McLellan, W.A., Costidis, A.M., Harms, C.A., Rotstein, D.S., Potter, C.W., Rommel, S.A., and D.A. Pabst. (2018). The habitat and anatomic distribution of the parasitic nematode Crassicauda sp. within its host, the pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps). Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 127:163 – 175. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03205

Erwin, P.M., Rhodes, R.G., Kiser, K.B., Keenan-Bateman, T.F., McLellan, W.A., and D.A. Pabst. (2017). High diversity and unique composition of gut microbiomes in pygmy (K. breviceps) and dwarf (K. sima) sperm whales. Scientific Reports 7(1):7205 https://rdcu.be/dXoOE

Keenan-Bateman, T.F., McLellan, W.A., Harms, C.A., Piscitelli, M.A., Barco, S.G., Thayer, V.G., Lovewell, G.N., Clark, K.L., Doshkov, P.K., Rotstein, D.S., Potter, C.W., and D.A. Pabst. (2016). Prevalence and anatomic site of Crassicauda sp. infection, and its use in species identification, in kogiid whales from the mid-Atlantic United States. Marine Mammal Science 32(3):868 – 883. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12300

Cummings, E.W., Pabst, D.A., Blum, J.E., Barco, S.G., Davis, S.J., Thayer, V.G., Adimey, N., and W.A. McLellan. 2014. Spatial and temporal patterns of habitat use and mortality of the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) in the Mid-Atlantic States of North Carolina and Virginia from 1991 to 2012. Aquatic Mammals. 40(2):126-138.

McLellan, W.A., Arthur, L. A., Mallette, S.D., Thornton, S.W., McAlarney, R.J., Read, A.J., and D.A. Pabst. 2014. Longline hook testing in the mouths of pelagic odontocetes. ICES Journal of Marine Science. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsu181

Staudinger, M.D., R. McAlarney, W. A. McLellan, and D.A. Pabst. 2014. Foraging ecology and niche segregation in pygmy (Kogia breviceps) and dwarf (Kogia sima) sperm whales from waters of the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast. Marine Mammal Science. 30(2): 626-655.

Bagge, L.E., Koopman, H. N., Rommel, S. A., McLellan, W. A., and D. A. Pabst. 2012. Lipid class and depth-specific thermal properties in the blubber of the short-finned pilot whale and the pygmy sperm whale. Journal of Experimental Biology. 215: 4330-4339.

Costidis, A., Berman, M., Cole. T., Knowlton, A., McLellan, W. Neilson, J., Pabst, D., and Raverty, S. 2013. Sharp-trauma by vessel collisions with pinnipeds and cetaceans. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms. 103:251-256.

Kielhorn, C.E., Dillaman, R.M., Kinsey, S.T., McLellan, W.A., Gay, D.M., Dearolf, J.L. and D.A. Pabst. 2013. Locomotor muscle profile of a deep (Kogia breviceps) versus shallow (Tursiops truncatus) diving cetacean. Journal of Morphology. 274:663-675.

McLellan, W.A., Berman, M., Cole. T., Costidis, A., Knowlton, A., Neilson, J., Pabst, D., and Raverty, S. 2013. Blunt force trauma induced by vessel collisions with large whales. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms. 103:245-25.

Velten, B.P., Dillaman, R. M., Kinsey, S. T., McLellan, W. A. and D. A. Pabst. 2013. Novel locomotor muscle design in extreme deep-diving whales. Journal of Experimental Biology. 216:1862-1871.

Piscitelli, M.A., McLellan, W.A., Rommel, S.A., Blum, J., Barco, S.G. and D.A. Pabst. 2010. Lung size and thoracic morphology in shallow (Tursiops truncatus) and deep (Kogia spp.) diving cetaceans. Journal of Morphology. 269:1520-1538.

Dunkin, R.C., McLellan, W.A., Blum, J. and D.A. Pabst. 2010. The buoyancy of the integument of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): Effects of growth, reproduction and nutritional state. Marine Mammal Science. 26(3):573-587.

Yordy, J.E., Pabst, D.A., McLellan, W.A., Wells, R.S., Rowles, T., and J. Kucklick. 2010. Tissue-specific distribution and whole body burden estimates of persistent organic pollutants in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 29(6):1263-1273.