Scientific Secretary

Mario Acquarone

Mario joined the NAMMCO staff in mid-April 2007, and stepped into the Scientific Secretary position on the 1st May. He brings with him a wealth of marine mammal research experience.

Mario got interested in cetaceans while studying Natural Sciences at university (Milan-Italy, Roscoff/Paris-France) working on the whales and dolphins of the Ligurian sea in the Mediterranean, after which he definitely moved North and expanded his interests to all marine mammals!

In the following 12 years he participated in studies of whales and seals in the waters around Greenland and Arctic Canada for the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the department of Arctic Environment of the National Environmental Research Institute in Denmark. Among other fields he has experience with Satellite Tracking, Line Transect Surveys, Geographical Information Systems and Physiology. Some of his work on belugas in North West Greenland has also involved the use of Local Knowledge which he found both exciting and important for successful resource management. He did his PhD work while at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark (now part of the Universtity of Copenhagen) involving 3 field seasons in North East Greenland where he investigated which role walruses play in the ecosystem, especially concentrating on quantifying their need for food as a conservation tool. Mario has also applied his knowledge and organizational skills in areas as diverse as the highlands of Bolivia and expedition cruises both in the Arctic and the Antarctic. 

Mario comes from a very international family. He has some Italian, Bulgarian and Basque genes in him, has lived in several European countries, has traveled extensively in Europe and the Americas and speaks five languages fluently. He was born in Turin in 1967 and has been based in Denmark during 15 years prior moving to Norway. An experienced skier, active sailor and scuba-diver instructor Mario has settled well in Tromsø with his fiancée Marie-Anne, who is also a Biologist, a Marine Mammal Trainer and an Arctic enthusiast, their son Léo (born in Tromsø on 14 August 2008) and their two black cats.

Publications:

• Blanchet, M.-A., Nance, T., Ast, C., Wahlberg, M., and Acquarone, M. 2008. First Case of a Monitored Pregnancy of a Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) Under Human Care. Aquatic Mammals 34(1):9-20.
• Desportes, G., Buholzer, L., Anderson-Hansen, K, Blanchet, M.-A., Acquarone, M., Shephard,G., Brando, S., Vossen, A. and Siebert, U. 2007. Decrease Stress; Train Your Animals: The Effect of Handling Methods on Cortisol Levels in Harbour Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) Under Human Care. Aquatic Mammals 33(3):286-292.
• Born, E.W. & Acquarone, M. 2007. An estimation of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) predation on bivalves in the Young Sound area (NE Greenland). In: Rysgaard, S. and Glud R. N. (Eds.) Carbon cycling in Arctic marine ecosystems: Case study Young Sund. Meddelelser om Grønland – Bioscience 58:176-191.
• Acquarone, M. & Born, E.W. 2007. Estimation of water pool size, turnover rate and body composition of free-ranging Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) studied by isotope dilution. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87:77-84.
• Acquarone, M., Born, E.W. & Speakman, J.R. 2006. Field Metabolic Rates of Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) Measured by the Doubly Labeled Water Method. Aquatic Mammals 32(3):363-369.
• Bertelsen, M.F., Acquarone, M. & Born, E.W. 2006. Resting heart and respirator rate in wild walrus (Odobenus rosmarus). Marine Mammal Science 22(3):714-718.
• Born, E.W., Acquarone, M., Knutsen & L.Ø & Toudal, L. 2005. Homing Behaviour in an Atlantic Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus). Aquatic Mammals 31(1):22-33.
• Acquarone, M. 2004. Body composition, field metabolic rate and feeding ecology of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) in northeastern Greenland. Ph.D. thesis, National Environmental Research Insitute, Denmark. 142 pp.
• Born, E.W., Teilmann, J., Acquarone, M. & Riget, F. 2004. Habitat Use of Ringed Seals (Phoca hispida) in the North Water Area (N Baffin Bay). Arctic 57(2):129-142.
• Born, E.W., Rysgaard, S., Ehlmé, G., Sejr, M., Acquarone, M. & Levermann, N. 2003. Underwater observations of foraging free-living Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) and estimates of their food consumption. Polar Biology 26(5): 348-357.
• Heide-Jørgensen, M.P. & Acquarone, M. 2002. Size and trends of the bowhead whale, beluga and narwhal stocks wintering off West Greenland. In: Heide-Jørgensen, M.P. & Wiig, Ø. (Eds.): Belugas in the North Atlantic and the Russian Arctic. Scientific Committee - North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission. NAMMCO Scientific Publications 4: 191-210.
• Dietz, R., Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., Richard, P.R. & Acquarone, M. 2001. Summer and Fall Movements of Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) from Northeastern Baffin Island Towards Northern Davis Strait. Arctic 54(3): 244-261.
• Teilmann, J., Born, E.W. & Acquarone, M. 1999. Behaviour of ringed seals tagged with satellite transmitters in the North Water polynya during fast-ice formation. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77(12): 1934-1946.
• Abraham, R.T., Acquarone, M. & et al. 1995. Cellular Effects of Olomoucine, An Inhibitor of Cyclin-Dependent Kinases. Biology of the Cell 83(2-3): 105-120.