Will is a postdoctoral researcher interested in using integrative biologging techniques to develop data-driven, holistic models of energetic intake and expenditure to answer basic biological questions and act as baselines for understanding disturbance effects and resilience to global change. He joined the lab in November 2022 after completing a PhD at Stanford University, and has spent a significant portion of his time training students in the lab (and the broader Hawaiian community) on the proper methods related to the deployment and recovery of Customized Animal Tracking Solutions (CATS) biologging tags, and analysis of collected data. His own research has focused on quantifying the energetics of Hawaiian short-finned pilot whales and other cetaceans species, both large and small.
Find Will on Google Scholar and ORCID:
Dr. William Gough
Will's Research Aims
Will’s research investigates how marine mammals gain, convert, and expend energy to perform critical life functions. His work combines movement data from biologging tags and morphometrics from UAS-photogrammetry with a host of other techniques (e.g., physiological inference from controlled experiments, anatomical dissection and stomach content analysis, allometric scaling) to create fine-scale computational models of energy acquisition and use within different behavioral contexts, such as:
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Foraging - Energy acquisition is fundamental to survival, and animals have evolved diverse strategies to locate, capture, and process food while minimizing costs. Will studies how species optimize their foraging efficiency through behavioral adaptations, biomechanical performance, and environmental interactions.
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Traveling – Locomotion is a fundamental biological process, especially for animals that must travel vast distances in search of food, mates, or suitable habitats. Will investigates how body size, morphology, and biomechanics influence movement efficiency across a range of species.
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Migrating - Long-distance migrations are one of the most energetically challenging behaviors observed within the animal kingdom. Animals migrate to track the seasonality of food sources or move between spatially distinct foraging and breeding habitats. Will investigates how large body sizes, such as those seen in baleen whales (Mysticeti), allow for migrations across vast distances.
Biography
Will Gough grew up in Rochester, New York, where he originally wanted to be a veterinarian. He did his undergraduate work at Cornell University, a masters at West Chester University, and most recently finished up a PhD at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station under the mentorship of Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen. Throughout this time, he has been involved in numerous research projects focused broadly on biomechanics and behavior, with such varied topics as: urination behavior of domestic dogs, kinematic analysis of eider duck predator-escape responses, anatomical structure and material properties of odontocete tail flukes, and the scale-dependence of swimming and foraging kinematics and energetics in large cetaceans. Outside of research, Will has developed training tools and workshops to teach researchers and the public how to work with biologging methodologies. He has also led a program at Hopkins aimed at bringing local high-schoolers into the lab to learn analytical skills and work directly with researchers on independent projects.