MARTIN VAN ASWEGEN
Postdoctoral Researcher
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa's Marine Mammal Research Program and Research Associate at the Alaska Whale Foundation. Since 2015, I have developed non-invasive technologies and approaches to model bioenergetics and physiology of wildlife in the context of their life history and exposure to natural and anthropogenic disturbance. I leverage applied research and scientific communication to inform effective conservation management outcomes. For my PhD, I used UAS-photogrammetry methods to quantify the size, body condition, and energetic requirements of North Pacific humpback whales on their Southeast Alaskan feeding and Hawaiian breeding grounds.
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Email: mvanas@hawaii.edu
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For publication pdfs, please visit the following links:
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Publications
2025
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. van Aswegen, M., Szabo, A., Currie, J. J., Stack, S. H., Straley, J. M., Neilson, J. L., Gabriele, C. M., Baker, C.S., Steel, D., Pack, A.A., West, K.L., Hofmann, N., Toonen, R., Loockerman, C., Sullivan, F.A., Cheeseman, T., Sharpe, F., and Bejder, L. 2025. Age-specific body length, mass and energetic cost of growth in humpback whales. Marine Ecology Progress Series. doi:10.3354/meps14937.
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. Evans, L., van Aswegen, M., Feinberg, S., Currie, J., Stack, S., Szabo, A., and Bejder, L. Accepted. Elevating photo-identification: aerial identification of humpback whales. Marine Mammal Science.
. Nemeth, C., Gough W., Segre, P., Fish, F.E., Szabo, A., Fassmann, W.N., Thomson, S.L., van Aswegen, M., Burrows, J.A., Chenoweth, E.M., di Clemente, J., Friedlaender, A.S., Goldbogen, J.A., Simon, M., Straley, J.M., Videsen, S.K.A., Visser, F., Weir, C.R & Bejder, L. 2025. The key to bubble-net feeding: How humpback whale morphology functionally differs from other baleen whales. Journal of Experimental Biology. 228. doi:10.1242/jeb.249607.
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. Curtis, A., Calambokidis, J., Audley, et al [>30 authors]. 2025. Harnessing the power of photo-ID data for apportionment to migratory whale herds: U.S. West Coast humpback whale stock proportions by latitude for the period 2019-2024. U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SWFSC-723.
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. Cartwright, R., Lyman, E., Venema, A., Currie, J.J., Stack, S.H., Pack, A.A., Bejder, L., van Aswegen, M., and Horn, D. 2025. Tending the sick: Epimeletic behavior towards entangled conspecifics provides evidence of empathy in humpback whales. PLOS ONE 20(4): e0321284. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321284.
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. van Aswegen, M., Szabo, A., Currie, J. J., Stack, S. H., Evans, L., Straley, J. M., Neilson, J. L., Gabriele, C. M., Cates, K., Steel, D., and Bejder, L. 2025. Maternal investment, body condition and calf growth in humpback whales. The Journal of Physiology 603(2). doi:10.1113/JP287379.
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. van Aswegen, M., Szabo, A., Currie, J. J., Stack, S. H., West, K. L., Hofmann, N., Christiansen, F., and Bejder, L. 2025. Energetic cost of gestation and prenatal growth in humpback whales. The Journal of Physiology 603(2). doi:10.1113/JP287304.
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2024
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. Vivier, F., Andrés, C., Gonzalvo J., Fertitta K., van Aswegen, M., Foroughirad, V., Mann J., McEntee M., Wells, R., and Bejder, L. 2024. Inferring dolphin population health: using Unoccupied Aerial Systems to quantify age-structure. Animal Conservation 28(2). doi: 10.1111/acv.12978.
. Szabo, A., Bejder, L., Warick, H., van Aswegen, M., Friedlaender, A., Goldbogen, J., Kendall-Bar, J., Leunissen, E., Angot, M., and Gough, W. 2024. Solitary humpback whales manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake. Royal Society Open Science 11(8). doi: 10.1098/rsos.240328.
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. Cheeseman, T., Barlow, J., Acebes J.M et al [>50 authors]. 2024. Bellwethers of change: population modelling of North Pacific humpback whales from 2002 through 2021 reveals shift from recovery to climate response. Royal Society Open Science 11(2). doi: 10.1098/rsos.231462.
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2023
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​. Cheeseman T., Southerland K., Acebes J.M et al [>50 authors]. 2023. A collaborative and near-comprehensive North Pacific humpback whale photo-ID dataset. Scientific Reports13(1).10237. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-36928-1.​
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2022
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. Nicholson, K., van Aswegen, M., Loneragan, N. and Bejder, L. 2022. Demographics and viability of an estuarine community of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. Marine Mammal Science 39(1). doi: 10.1111/mms.12961.
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. von Hammerstein, H., Setter, R. O., van Aswegen, M., Currie, J. J. and Stack, S.H., 2022. High-resolution projections of global sea surface temperatures reveal critical warming in humpback whale breeding grounds. Frontiers in Marine Science 9. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.837772.
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2021
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. Currie, J.J., van Aswegen, M., Stack, S.H., West, K., Vivier, F. and Bejder, L. 2021. Rapid weight loss in free ranging pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata): implications for anthropogenic disturbance of odontocetes. Scientific Reports. 11:8181
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2019
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. van Aswegen, M., Christiansen, F., Symons, J., Mann, J., Nicholson, K., Sprogis, K., & Bejder, L. 2019. Morphological differences between coastal bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) populations identified using non-invasive stereo-laser photogrammetry. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 12235. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48419-3
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