Dr Helena Herr

Affiliation

University of Hamburg
Center of Natural History
Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3 / Room 239
20146 Hamburg - Germany
phone +49 (0) 40 42838 1560
email: helena.herr@uni-hamburg.de
www.cenak.uni-hamburg.de

and

Alfred Wegener Institute
Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Section Polar Biological Oceanography
AG Ecophysiology of Pelagic Key Species
Am Handelshafen 12 / Building E, Room 2390
27570 Bremerhaven - Germany
phone: +49 (0) 471 4831 2360
email: helena.herr@awi.de

Research interests

Helena works as a marine mammal ecologist at the Center of Natural History of the University of Hamburg. In addition, she is a guest researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research. She is a member of the IWC Scientific Committee, the chair of the IWC-SORP Scientific Steering Committee and a member of the SCAR Expert Group on Birds and Marine Mammals. Her expertise lies in the field of population assessments and ecology of cetaceans, with a main research interest in conservation and associated management.

Helena’s current research focuses on the re-occurring high densities of fin whales in the Western Antarctic Peninsula region, investigating distribution, abundance, relationship to prey distribution and migratory origins. This research sparked the idea of a circumpolar investigation of the recovery status of Southern Hemisphere fin whales and the initiation of this IWC-SORP theme.

Selected publications

Herr H., Kelly N., Dorschel B., Huntemann M., Kock K-H., Lehnert L.S., Siebert U. Viquerat S., Williams R., Scheidat M. (2019) Aerial surveys for Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) reveal sea ice dependent distribution patterns. Ecology and Evolution 9: 5664–5682. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5149

Purser A., Herr H., Dreutter S., Dorschel B., Glud R., Hehemann L., Hoge U., Jamieson A., Linley T., Stewart H., Wenzhoefer F. (2018) Depression chains in seafloor of contrasting morphology, Atacama Trench margin: a comment on Marsh et al. (2018). Royal Society Open Science 6(3): 182053. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182053

IJsseldijk L.L., van Neer A., Deaville R., Begeman L., van de Bildt M., van den Brand J.M.A., Brownlow A., Czeck R., Dabin W., Doeschate M., Vanessa Herder V., Herr H., Jooske IJzer J., Jauniaux T., Jensen L.F., Jepson P.D., Karen W., Lakemeyer J., Lehnert K., Leopold M.F., Osterhaus A., Perkins M.W., Piatkowski U., Prenger-Berninghoff E., Pund R., Wohlsein P., Gröne A., Siebert, U. (2018) Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0201221.

Viquerat S., Herr H. (2017) Mid-summer abundance estimates of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) around the South Orkney Islands and Elephant Island. Endangered Species Research 32:515-524. DOI: 10.3354/esr00832

Unger B., Herr H., Benke H., Böhmert M., Burkhardt-Holm P., Dähne M., Hillmann M., Wolff-Schmidt K., Wohlsein P., Siebert U. (2017) Marine debris in harbour porpoises and seals from German waters. Marine Environmental Research 130:77-84. DOI 10.1016/j.marenvres.2017.07.009

Unger B., Bravo Rebolledo E.L., Deaville R., Gröne A., IJsseldijk L.L., Leopold M.F., Siebert U., Spitz J., Wohlsein P., Herr H. (2016) Large amounts of marine debris found in sperm whales stranded along the North Sea coast in early 2016. Marine Pollution Bulletin 122:134-141. DOI 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.08.027

Herr H., Viquerat S., Siegel V., Kock K-H., Dorschel B., Huneke W.G.C., Bracher A., Schröder M., Gutt J. (2016) Horizontal niche partitioning of humpback and fin whales around the West Antarctic Peninsula – evidence from a concurrent whale and krill survey. Polar Biology 39:799-818. DOI 10.1007/s00300-016-1927-9

Dorschel B., Gutt J., Huhn O., Bracher A., Huntemann M., Huneke W., Gebhardt C., Schröder M., Herr, H. (2016) Environmental information for a marine ecosystem research approach for the northern Antarctic Peninsula (RV Polarstern Expedition PS81, ANT XXIX/3). Polar Biology 39:765-787. DOI 10.1007/s00300-015-1861-2

Williams R., Kelly N., Boebel O., Friedlaender A.S., Herr H., Kock K-H., Lehnert L.S., Maksym T., Roberts J., Scheidat M., Siebert U., Brierley A.S. (2014) Counting whales in a challenging, changing environment. Scientific Reports 4:4170. DOI 10.1038/srep04170

Viquerat S., Herr H., Gilles A., Peschko V., Siebert U., Sveegaard S., Teilmann J. (2014) Abundance of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the western Baltic, Belt Seas and Kattegat. Marine Biology 161:745-754. DOI 10.1007/s00227-013-2374-6

Proelss A., Krivickaite M., Gilles A., Herr H., Siebert U. (2011) Protection of Cetaceans in European Waters – A Case Study on Bottom-Set Gillnet Fisheries within Marine Protected Areas. The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 26: 5-45. DOI 10.1163/157180811X543466

Herr H., Fock H.O., Siebert U. (2009a) Spatio-temporal associations between harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and specific fisheries in the German Bight. Biological Conservation 142: 2962–2972. DOI 10.1016/j.biocon.2009.07.025

Herr H., Scheidat M., Lehnert K., Siebert U. (2009b) Seals at sea – modelling seal distribution in the German Bight based on aerial survey data. Marine Biology 156:811–820. DOI 10.1007/s00227-008-1105-x