This project is a multi-investigator interdisciplinary study using the northern elephant seal as a model system to significantly improve our understanding of the response of marine mammals to exposure from multiple anthropogenic stressors. Our team will integrate physiological and ecological approaches including immunology, stress physiology, toxicology, animal behavior, population biology, and life history theory to examine cumulative effects of exposure to multiple stressors in elephant seals.

This project examines genetic and epigenetic differences associated with maternal fitness to better understand the intrinsic features underlying variation in reproductive success and sensitivity to environmental change.

The objective of this proposed effort is to determine the metabolic and immune system costs to chronic stress in the bottlenose dolphin. To this end, metabolic hormones and immune function markers are to be measured in concert with experimental manipulations of circulating cortisol and metabolic rate measurements. Dr. Daniel Crocker will provide the laboratory facilities to be used for most hormone and immune system marker. Dr. Crocker will also oversee the laboratory analyses and participate in data analyses and manuscript preparation.

There is a growing understanding that adipose tissue releases hormones (adipokines) that help regulate metabolism, immune function and reproduction. This study examines changes in blubber gene expression and blood concentrations of adipokines in naturally fasting elephant seals, examines their relationship to immune markers and reproductive hormones, and will provide novel information on how body condition influences health and reproduction in wildlife.