So, who’s up next in this year’s summer lecture series at The Whale Museum?

That would be Dr. Daniel Gonzalez-Socololske, assistant biology professor at Andrews University, and Mexico’s endangered Antillean manatee.

Gonzalez-Socololske, a Duke University graduate with a Ph.D in ecology, posed questions such as those below as part of his doctoral work on the feeding habitats and adaptive behavior of the Mexican manatee, which, like all manatees, are able to live both in freshwater and saltwater habitat, and in the case of the Antillean manatee of southern Mexico, live in seasonally flooded freshwater rivers and lakes: Do manatees have food year round? What are the implications if they don’t? And, what do manatees eat in these seasonally flooded wetlands and how is that influenced by changes in water levels?

Gonzalez-Socololske, also an associate editor of the Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, will offer a summary of his research Wednesday, July 31, in a lecture entitled, “Hunger in Paradise? Seasonal Variation in Food Availability to Manatees in a Flooding Wetland”, starting at 7 p.m., at the Whale Museum.

For more info, Whale Museum, 378-4710, ext. 23.

In addition to a yearly summer lecture series and exhibits, the Whale Museum pursues its mission of promoting stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through research and education, and by sponsoring programs such as marine naturalist trainings, the Orca Adoption Program, Soundwatch Boater Education, the marine mammal stranding network and the Whale Hotline.

Find out more about the Whale Museum online at, www.whalemuseum.org