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Researcher Information

Biography

Born in southern Louisiana, Le Boeuf, a behavioral ecologist, was trained in California and received his Ph.D at the University of California at Berkeley in 1966. He has conducted research and published widely on marine mammals and especially the northern elephant seal for the last three decades. The main thrust of his studies has focused on two general themes: 1) the evolution of social behavior in seals and sea lions and the strategies of each sex for maximizing their reproductive success; and 2) the diving, foraging, and migratory behavior of elephant seals, as well as the physiological mechanisms that enable diving performance. Relative to TOPP objectives, he and his colleagues and students have pioneered research on the at-sea behavior of free-ranging elephant seals using microcomputer diving instruments, satellite tags, cameras and acoustic data-loggers. Recent interests include: documenting the physiological costs and benefits of seal migration; the predator-prey relationships between white sharks and their principal prey, elephant seals, as well as documenting the hunting strategies and migratory behavior of white sharks in the area; and the effects of high contaminant levels of persistent organic pollutants like DDT and PCBs on sea lion health.

Contact Information:
401 Clark Kerr Hall
University of California
Santa Cruz, California USA 95064
Phone: (831) 459-5014

Selected Publications

Boehlert, G.W., D. P. Costa, D. E. Crocker, P. Green, T. O'Brien, S. Levitus, and B. J. Le Boeuf. 2001. Autonomous pinniped environmental samplers: using instrumented animals as oceanographic data collectors. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. 18 (11): 1882-1893.

Davis, R.W., L.A. Fuiman, T.M. Williams, and B.J. Le Boeuf. 2001. Three-dimensional movements and swimming activity of a northern elephant seal. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A 129:759-770.

Klimley, A.P., B.J. Le Boeuf, K.M. Cantara, J.E. Richert, S.F. Davis, S. Van Sommeran, J. T. Kelley. 2001. The hunting strategy of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) near a seal colony. Marine Biology 138:617-636.

Le Boeuf, B.J., D.E. Crocker, J. Grayson, J. Gedamke, P.M. Webb, S.B. Blackwell, and D.P. Costa. 2000. Respiration and heart rate at the surface between dives in northern elephant seals. Journal of Experimental Biology 203:3265-3274.

Le Boeuf, B.J., D.E. Crocker, D.P. Costa, S.B. Blackwell, P.M. Webb, and D.S. Houser. 2000. Foraging ecology of northern elephant seals. Ecological Monographs. 70(3):353-382.

Andrews, R.D., D.P. Costa, B.J. Le Boeuf, and D.R. Jones. 2000. Breathing frequencies of northern elephant seals at sea and on land revealed by heart rate spectral analysis. Respiration Physiology 123:71-85.

Williams, T.M., R.W. Davis, L.A. Fuiman, J. Francis, B.J. Le Boeuf, M. Horning, J. Calambokidis, and D. Croll. 2000. Sink or swim: Strategies of cost-efficient diving by marine mammals. Science 288:133-136.

Blackwell, S.B., C.A. Haverl, B.J. Le Boeuf, and D.P.Costa. 1999. A method for calibrating swim-speed recorders. Marine Mammal Science 15: 894-905.

Burgess, W.C., P.L. Tyack, B.J. Le Boeuf, and D.P. Costa. 1998. A programmable acoustic recording tag and first results from free-ranging northern elephant seals. Deep-Sea Research, Part II – Topical Studies in Oceanography. 45: 1327-1351.

Webb, P.M., D.E. Crocker, S.B. Blackwell, D.P. Costa and B.J. Le Boeuf. 1998. Effects of buoyancy on the diving behavior of northern elephant seals. J. Exp. Biol. 201:2349-2358.

Crocker, D.E., B.J. Le Boeuf and D.P. Costa. 1997. Drifting during diving in northern elephant seals: implications for food processing. Can. J. Zool. 75: 27-39.

Oliver, G.W., P.A. Morris, P.H. Thorson, and B.J. Le Boeuf. 1998. Homing behavior of juvenile northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris. Marine Mammal Science 14:245-256.

Fletcher, S., B.J. Le Boeuf, D.P. Costa, P. L. Tyack and S.B. Blackwell. 1996. Onboard acoustic recording from diving elephant seals. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100 (4):2531-2539.

Le Boeuf, B.J. and D.E. Crocker. 1996. Diving behavior of elephant seals: implications for predator avoidance. Pp 193-205 In P. Klimley and D. Ainley (eds.) Great White Sharks: The Biology of Carcharodon carcharias, Academic Press, New York.

Le Boeuf, B.J., P.A. Morris, S.B. Blackwell, D.E. Crocker, and D.P. Costa. 1996. Diving behavior of juvenile northern elephant seals. Can. J. Zool. 74: 1632-1644.

Campagna, C., B.J. Le Boeuf, S. Blackwell, D. Crocker and F. Quintana. 1995. Diving behavior and foraging location of female southern elephant seals from Patagonia. J. Zool. Lond. 236: 55-71.

Hakoyama, H., B.J. Le Boeuf, Y. Naito, and W. Sakamoto. 1994. Diving behavior in relation to ambient water temperature in northern elephant seals. Can. J. Zool. 1994, 72:643-651.
Le Boeuf, B.J. 1994. Variation in the diving pattern of northern elephant seals with age, mass, sex and reproductive condition. Pp 237-252 In: B. J. Le Boeuf and R.M. Laws (eds). Elephant Seals: Population Ecology, Behavior, and Physiology. University of California Press, Los Angeles.

Thorson, P. and B. J. Le Boeuf. 1994. Developmental aspects of diving in northern elephant seal pups. Pp 271-289 In B.J. Le Boeuf and R.M. Laws (eds). Elephant Seals: Population Ecology, Behavior, and Physiology. University of California Press, Los Angeles.

Le Boeuf, B.J., D. Crocker, S. Blackwell, P. Morris, and P. Thorson. 1993. Sex differences in diving and foraging behaviour of northern elephant seals. In: Marine Mammals: Advances in Behavioural and Population Biology (ed.) I. Boyd., Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, 66: 149-178.

Le Boeuf, B.J., Y. Naito, T. Asaga, D. Crocker, and D.P. Costa. 1992. Swim speed in a female northern elephant seal: Metabolic and foraging implications. Can. J. Zool. 70, 786-795.

Le Boeuf, B.J., Y. Naito, A.C. Huntley and T. Asaga. 1989. Prolonged, continuous deep diving by northern elephant seals. Can. J. Zool. 67, 2514-2519.

Le Boeuf, B.J., D.P. Costa, A.C. Huntley and S.D. Feldkamp. 1988. Diving behavior of female northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris. Can. J. Zool. 66: 446-458.

Le Boeuf, B.J., D. Costa, T. Huntley and G.L. Kooyman. 1986. Pattern and depth of dives in northern elephant seals. J. Zool. Lond. 208, 1-7.