Research

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Behavioral Ecologist

Marine mammalogist

Conservation physiologist

The field of marine mammal endocrinology is rapidly expanding, enabling scientists to address questions that previously eluded us. Though marine mammals can be challenging to study, new endocrinology methods offer insight to their stress, sex, and sociality.

My research has two foci:

(1) developing, validating, and communicating methods for reliable quantification of hormones in marine mammals and

(2) applying these methods to questions of ecology, evolution, and conservation

My recent work investigates the impacts of ocean noise on whales. Through shipping, energy exploration, and national defense, humans make a lot of noise in the ocean. What does that mean for whales, who rely heavily on hearing for navigation, foraging, and reproduction?

Using molecular techniques, we're studying the stress responses of whales to sound. As humans, we know stress is complicated! By taking a comprehensive approach, we can learn more about normal whale physiology, and how that's impacted by human disturbance.

Projects

small research vessel at sea with rainbow in the background

Responses to Naval Sonar

Deep-diving whales are especially susceptible to mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS). Through a collaboration with the Atlantic Behavioral Response Project, we're investigating the physiological stress responses of short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) to MFAS. By conducting controlled exposure experiments (CEEs) and collecting remote blubber biopsies, we're able to assess physiological stress through the measurement of hormones, like cortisol.

liquid chromatography mass spectrometry equipment in a chemistry laboratory. computer screen shows mass spectrometry peaks for several analytes.

Hormone measurement in remote blubber biopsies

Blubber, blood, baleen, and blow: scientists have found hormones in nearly every tissue matrix they've looked in. Working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), we developed a method for analyzing a comprehensive suite of steroid hormones in pilot whale blubber. We conducted methodological and biological validations to ensure these measurements are accurate and to maximize data from these difficult-to-obtain samples.

two researchers hunched over a blubber biopsy sample on a boat

Hypoxia Tolerance in Whales

Our Bass Connections team is investigating the genetic underpinnings of low-oxygen (i.e. hypoxia) tolerance in whales. This inter-disciplinary group is made up of undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and research staff.

Through comparisons of coastal and offshore bottlenose dolphins, we're identifying genetic variants associated with deeper-diving offshore ecotypes. Using cell culture and RNA sequencing, we're characterizing and comparing mammalian hypoxia response pathways.

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