About

Professor Daniel P Costa is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His research focuses on marine vertebrate ecophysiology, studying the physiological adaptations and behaviors of marine mammals and other marine vertebrates. His work involves understanding diving behavior, physiology, habitat use, behavioral types, and foraging strategies of species such as seals and whales. The research aims to elucidate how these animals adapt to their environments and how their physiological processes support their survival and reproductive success in marine ecosystems.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Environmental science
• Biology
• Oceanography
• Geology
• Ecology
• Environmental resource management
• Psychology
• Geography
• Artificial Intelligence
• Demography
• Neuroscience
• Risk analysis (engineering)
• Cognitive psychology
• Zoology
• Fishery
• Business

Selected publications

• Brain activity of diving seals reveals short sleep cycles at depth

  Science · 2023 · 79 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Oceanography
  • Neuroscience

  ) diving in Monterey Bay, California. Brain-wave patterns showed that seals took short (less than 20 minutes) naps while diving (maximum depth 377 meters; 104 sleeping dives). Linking these patterns to accelerometry and the time-depth profiles of 334 free-ranging seals (514,406 sleeping dives) revealed a North Pacific sleepscape in which seals averaged only 2 hours of sleep per day for 7 months, rivaling the record for the least sleep among all mammals, which is currently held by the African elephant (about 2 hours per day).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Understanding the combined effects of multiple stressors: A new perspective on a longstanding challenge

  The Science of The Total Environment · 2022 · 194 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Risk analysis (engineering)

  Wildlife populations and their habitats are exposed to an expanding diversity and intensity of stressors caused by human activities, within the broader context of natural processes and increasing pressure from climate change. Estimating how these multiple stressors affect individuals, populations, and ecosystems is thus of growing importance. However, their combined effects often cannot be predicted reliably from the individual effects of each stressor, and we lack the mechanistic understanding and analytical tools to predict their joint outcomes. We review the science of multiple stressors and present a conceptual framework that captures and reconciles the variety of existing approaches for assessing combined effects. Specifically, we show that all approaches lie along a spectrum, reflecting increasing assumptions about the mechanisms that regulate the action of single stressors and their combined effects. An emphasis on mechanisms improves analytical precision and predictive power but could introduce bias if the underlying assumptions are incorrect. A purely empirical approach has less risk of bias but requires adequate data on the effects of the full range of anticipated combinations of stressor types and magnitudes. We illustrate how this spectrum can be formalised into specific analytical methods, using an example of North Atlantic right whales feeding on limited prey resources while simultaneously being affected by entanglement in fishing gear. In practice, case-specific management needs and data availability will guide the exploration of the stressor combinations of interest and the selection of a suitable trade-off between precision and bias. We argue that the primary goal for adaptive management should be to identify the most practical and effective ways to remove or reduce specific combinations of stressors, bringing the risk of adverse impacts on populations and ecosystems below acceptable thresholds.

  DOI

• Trade-offs between foraging reward and mortality risk drive sex-specific foraging strategies in sexually dimorphic northern elephant seals

  Royal Society Open Science · 2022 · 30 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Ecology
  • Demography

  ). We analyse a decadal dataset on movement patterns, dive behaviour, foraging success and mortality rates. Females are deep-diving predators in open ocean habitats. Males are shallow-diving benthic predators in continental shelf habitats. Males gain six times more mass and acquire energy 4.1 times faster than females. High foraging success comes with a high mortality rate. Males are six times more likely to die than females. These foraging strategies and trade-offs are related to different energy demands and life-history strategies. Males use a foraging strategy with a high mortality risk to attain large body sizes necessary to compete for females, as only a fraction of the largest males ever mate. Females use a foraging strategy with a lower mortality risk, maximizing reproductive success by pupping annually over a long lifespan. Our results highlight how sex-specific traits can drive disparity in mortality rates and expand species' niche space. Further, trade-offs between foraging rewards and mortality risk can differentially affect each sex's ability to maximize fitness.

  PublisherDOI

• The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean

  Science · 2021 · 845 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Environmental resource management
  • Oceanography

  Oceans have become substantially noisier since the Industrial Revolution. Shipping, resource exploration, and infrastructure development have increased the anthrophony (sounds generated by human activities), whereas the biophony (sounds of biological origin) has been reduced by hunting, fishing, and habitat degradation. Climate change is affecting geophony (abiotic, natural sounds). Existing evidence shows that anthrophony affects marine animals at multiple levels, including their behavior, physiology, and, in extreme cases, survival. This should prompt management actions to deploy existing solutions to reduce noise levels in the ocean, thereby allowing marine animals to reestablish their use of ocean sound as a central ecological trait in a healthy ocean.

  DOI

• Tracking of marine predators to protect Southern Ocean ecosystems

  Nature · 2020 · 286 citations

  • Oceanography
  • Geography
  • Environmental science
  DOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: U.S. SO GLOBEC Synthesis and Modeling - Habitat Utilization and Predator-Prey interactions In Western Antarctic Peninsula

  NSF · $449k · 2006–2011

• Collaborative Research: Weddell seals as autonomous sensors of the winter oceanography of the Ross Sea

  NSF · $556k · 2009–2013

• Habitat Utilization of Southern Ocean Seals: Foraging Behavior of Crabeater and Elephant Seals Using Novel Methods of Oceanographic Data Collection

  NSF · $901k · 2005–2010

• Collaborative Research: Foraging Ecology and Physiology of the Leopard Seal

  NSF · $594k · 2017–2022

• The Importance of Foraging Pattern on Reproductive Success in the Northern Fur Seal, Callorhinus Ursinus

  NSF · $285k · 1995–2001

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel E. Crocker

  Sonoma State University

  129 shared

• Luis A. Hückstädt

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  96 shared

• Jessica M. Kendall-Bar

  Scripps Institution of Oceanography

  69 shared

• Patrick W. Robinson

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  68 shared

• Scott A. Shaffer

  San Jose State University

  68 shared

• Allyson G. Hindle

  University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  63 shared

• Michael E. Goebel

  NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center

  61 shared

• Birgitte I. McDonald

  San Jose State University

  60 shared

Labs

• The Costa LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Biology

  University of California

  1978

Awards & honors

• Fellows Medal, California Academy of Sciences 2024
• Ricketts Award, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary 2024
• Ida Benson Endowed Chair of Ocean Health, 2008-2013
• Eminent Scholars Lecture, University of South Florida Februa…
• Secretary Society of Marine Mammalogy, 2002-2006

Similar researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz

• Jonathan J Fortneyh-125
• Jason Xavier Prochaskah-125
• Piero Madauh-108
• Jin Zhong Zhangh-106
• Carol Greiderh-100