Marine Mammal Biologist
Wildlife and Fisheries Biologist

Joined LGL in 2006

Degrees & Diplomas

Research Interests

• Assessment of wildlife population size and conservation status (especially of aquatic mammals)
• Population dynamics, behavioral ecology, and habitat use
• Techniques for identification of individual animals (photo-id, tagging, marking)
• Human/wildlife interactions
• Conservation Biology
• Freshwater, Marine, and Tropical Ecology
• Environmental Education

Capsule Resume

Tamara has worked with various international, federal, state, and University institutions, including Texas A&M University, Oregon State University, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. She is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Small Cetacean Specialist Group and of the Latin American Society of Aquatic Mammal Specialists.

She has extensive field experience on basic and applied studies, and has worked and lived in remote field camps in Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. She has additional field experience from studies in Texas, Oregon, Alaska, and American Samoa/Johnston Atoll. She has lead or participated in field studies to assess and monitor populations of South American river dolphins, Hawaiian monk seals, South Pacific cetaceans, and most recently, Cook Inlet Beluga whales. Fisheries experience includes studies of predation pressure by northern pike minnow in the Columbia River, salmon fisheries along the Oregon Coast, and tropical fish diversity in the Orinoco and Amazon River Basins. She has often been assisted by trained volunteers, including volunteers from Earthwatch, Elderhostel, and the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network. She was the Coordinator of the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network from 2003-2005.