Kendal Leftwich conducts acoustic research assessing how northern Gulf of Mexico dolphin populations changed and recovered over time to help researchers better understand the health of dolphin species living in affected areas.
The Smithsonian recently published an article about how researchers are using sound or echolocation to learn more about the elusive beaked whale. Some of these whales live and forage in the vicinity where the Deepwater Horizon incident happened, and researchers are monitoring their numbers and location to learn how the oil spill may have affected their populations.