\u00a0GRADUATE STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, CANADA<\/strong><\/p>\n HARP SEAL AND GREY SEAL RESEARCH<\/strong><\/p>\n Between 1979 and 1986, I was a graduate student under Dr. David Lavigne in the Department of Zoology at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario Canada.\u00a0 My M.Sc. and Ph.D. research centered around how harp and grey seal pups survive the immediate post-weaning period.\u00a0 These projects examined the energy stores that were used during the fasting period, insulation and thermal exchange with the environment, and an examination of the thermoneutral zones in air and in water.<\/p>\n I oversaw the collection of body condition data from California sea lions that were either captive held at LML or wild at both A\u00f1o Nuevo Island and San Nicolas Island.\u00a0 This study involved the seasonal assessment of body fat stores using tritiated water, Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) and ultrasound. \u00a0We also undertook lab studies of the thermoneutral zone of sea lions, seasonal changes in body mass, and their assimilation efficiencies on different diets. \u00a0Concurrently, we were undertaking similar body condition\u00a0assessments of bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay FL, and assessing seasonal changes in blubber depth, water flux, and food intake of captive dolphins held in Santa Cruz.\u00a0 Later, with NSF funding, we were able to examine the seasonal habitat utilization of\u00a0Sarasota dolphins\u00a0while concurrently\u00a0measuring their field metabolic rates using doubly-labeled water\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/PEBL\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2012\/10\/1.-harp-seal-fat-white.jpg\" "\\"1.")
<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h6>\nBoth of these species are thought to fast for approximately 6-8 weeks after they are weaned during which time they develop their swimming and hunting skills.\u00a0 The major difference between these species is that harp seals fast in the water, at temperatures close to 0\u00b0C, while grey seals generally fast on land.\u00a0 This trait of undergoing a post-weaning fast is common in many phocid seals.\u00a0 There has been some controversy about how young seals cope with this period of fasting and my research goal was to examine these two species and determine how each species coped with fasting either on land or in the water.\u00a0 Seals were held under captive conditions in Guelph, where they were naturally fasted either on land or in the water.\u00a0 Body compositions were measured over the duration of the fast and metabolic rates of all seals were measured both in air and in water.\u00a0 When fasting, these seals must draw on a variety of energy reserves to sustain life.\u00a0 These reserves potentially include blubber (fat), muscle (protein), and, in
<\/span><\/a> some spe<\/span><\/a>cies, diffuse fat stores around the viscera.\u00a0 The overall conclusion of my research was that the pattern of energy utilization used by different seal species reflects species-specific adaptations to different breeding habitats.\u00a0 Regardless of whether harp seals fasted in air or in water, they initially drew from internal energy reserves (visceral fat and muscle) and spared the blubber layer for as long as possible.\u00a0 This meant that they were able to retain their insulation as long as possible.\u00a0 This would be critical if the animal was fasting in ice-cold water.\u00a0 Grey seals, and other species that fast on land, immediately began to utilize blubber reserves, since insulation is not as much of an issue.<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n\u00a0<\/span>HARBOR PORPOISE ENERGETICS<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n
During the summer of 1985, Robert Stewart, Barbara Stewart, Stuart Innes, Andrew\u00a0<\/span>Read,\u00a0<\/span>B<\/span>irgit Braun, and I undertook a project\u00a0<\/span>that examined the metabolism of the harbor porpoise, Phocoena phocoena. \u00a0<\/span>This species is the smallest, oceanic cetacean and is commonly found in waters as far north as Iceland and Alaska and as far south as central California and the Carolinas.\u00a0 In the Bay of Fundy, Canada,\u00a0<\/span>fishermen regularly use weirs to catch herring and mackerel.\u00a0 On occasion,\u00a0<\/span>they also incidentally (and non-lethally) capture harbor porpoises.\u00a0 This\u00a0<\/span>project was designed to take advantage of these entrapped porpoises by<\/span><\/h6>\n
<\/p>\nholding them for a few days in some abandoned salmon pens.\u00a0 The ability to hold these animals in captivity for a short time allowed us to set up and train them to use an indirect calorimeter and to thereby measure their metabolic rates.\u00a0 Animals were initially trained to use a breathing dome over a period of 2 days and then their oxygen consumption rates were measured over a period of 2-3 days before the porpoises were released near their original capture locations.\u00a0 Water temperatu<\/span><\/span>res during the measurement period averaged .\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
<\/p>\n14\u00b0C<\/span>\u00a0The results of this study suggested that: 1) small cetaceans can be quickly accustomed to using this type of measurement system and that this approach has the potential for application to both short- and long-term captive animals, and 2) these actively swimming, immature harbor porpoise had metabolic rates that were within the range of values that would have been predicted for any young active mammal.<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n
\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
\u00a0POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW IN CALIFORNIA<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
CALIFORNIA SEA LIONS, NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS, <\/span><\/span>AND BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Between 1987 and 1990, I was a postdoctoral research associate in Dan Costa\u2019s research program at the Long Marine Lab of the University\u00a0of California, Santa Cruz.\u00a0 This was an exciting period and I was able\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
<\/span><\/a>to be involved in research on a variety of marine mammals including northern fur seals, California sea lions, northern elephant seals, and bottlenose dolphins.\u00a0 I learned a great deal from Dan about new analytical techniques, how to manage a large research program, how to supervise graduate students, and how to teach undergraduate students.\u00a0 The specific project that I was brought in to work on was funded by the Office of Naval Research and involved examining the energetics and body condition of California sea lions and bottlenose dolphins.\u00a0 Through this project I was introduced for the first time to both field and <\/span><\/a>lab work on an otariid and a cetacean species.\u00a0 I was also able to get actively involved in the on-going research program with northern elephant seals.\u00a0 Santa Cruz was a bustling center for marine mammal research at that time with Dan Costa, Michael Castellini, Randy Wells, Ken Norris, Leo Ortiz, Burney LeBoeuf, Robert Gisiner, and Ron Schusterman all having active research programs underway.\u00a0 There was also an amazing cadre of graduate students in the program, all of which meant that there was never a shortage of projects to work on. <\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n