About The Speakers…
Anna Gierhart, MAS
Anna Gierhart is a cetologist focused on marine mammal behavior, acoustics, and conservation. She holds a Master’s in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a BS degree in Biology from Point Loma Nazarene University. Her work explores how human activity shapes marine mammal behavior and communication, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism. She has gained experience in marine mammal research through fieldwork and work with the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program and NOAA. Her research in Kaikōura, New Zealand, began with evaluating the effectiveness of policy regulations designed to reduce disturbance from swim tourism on dusky dolphins (Aethalodelphis obscurus). Building on this work, she is now analyzing follow-up data to understand how dolphin behavior varies across seasons and in response to swimmers and vessels. Alongside this, she is developing an acoustic research project examining how vocalizations change across social and human-influenced contexts. Her work integrates behavioral and acoustic approaches to better understand dolphin communication in a changing environment. She has presented her research at the Society for Marine Mammalogy (2024) and ACS (2025), and will present new findings on dusky dolphin acoustics at the Society for Marine Mammalogy conference in Puerto Rico this year.
Dr. Ann Bowles
Dr. Bowles is a Senior Research Fellow at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI), an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization dedicated to research-based solutions to the challenges faced by marine life. As a budding young undergraduate scientist, Dr. Bowles wanted to be a linguist, but realized she was more interested in how animals communicate than how people talk. The study of odontocete communication seemed like a good way to combine her interests, so she obtained the equivalent of a second degree in animal behavior and went on to a PhD in animal bioacoustics. She received her Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in the course of which she extended skills learned to analyze human speech to animal communication and the influence of environmental noise. After undertaking what amounted to a four-decade parallel career at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI) studying animal communication and the effects of human made noise on animals, she has come back to her roots: she now heads the Animal Behavior and Senses Program at HSWRI and is focusing on cetacean communication research.
