Physiology and metabolism of lipids: implications for vertebrate ecology ,life histories, and conservation

我的研究计划结合比较生理学和生态学与脂质生物化学和代谢的脊椎动物。我整合了对医学和生物界感兴趣的问题的实地和实验室研究，这些问题适用于哺乳动物，海鸟和鱼类种群的保护和管理，并进一步加深了我们对生理和生态系统过程的理解。我的研究计划的长期目标是3倍：1）推进我们对脂质代谢及其在脊椎动物中的调节的理解，2）应用这些知识和相关知识，以更好地了解自由放养动物的觅食生态学和它们发挥作用的生态系统，以及3）更好地了解哺乳期的生理学与脂质代谢和哺乳动物生活史策略的关系。在接下来的五年里，我将在这些相互关联的领域扩大研究。我的研究的一个主要重点是更好地了解脂肪酸（FA）的代谢过程，沉积和动员在脂肪组织和牛奶，这意味着使用脂肪酸定量估计捕食者的饮食从他们的代谢活性脂肪储存，并通过这样做，以更好地了解营养依赖性和适应个别物种，海洋食物网结构和生态系统动态。虽然我在2004年开发了定量FA签名分析，但它仍然是第一代工具，并且需要迅速提高其准确性，精度和对野生动物种群饮食估计的信心，从而提高我们对关键生态系统中食物网结构和功能的理解。我的计划的另一个重点是脂质代谢，长期禁食和哺乳之间的相互作用，以及它们在海洋哺乳动物中的调节。我们将研究胎次（包括生理衰老）和基因型对个体泌乳性能的影响，这些因素以前没有在大型野生哺乳动物中进行过研究。这些研究旨在促进我们对产奶量和脂质代谢的发生、调节、维持和下降以及哺乳性能个体差异的遗传基础的理解。

My research program combines comparative physiology and ecology with lipid biochemistry and metabolism in vertebrates. I integrate field and laboratory studies on issues of interest to medical and biological communities, which have applications to conservation and management of mammal, seabird, and fish populations, and which further our understanding of both physiological and ecosystem processes. The long-term goals of my research program are 3-fold: 1) to advance our understanding of lipid metabolism and its regulation in vertebrates, 2) to apply this and related knowledge to gain a better understanding of the foraging ecology of free-ranging animals and the ecosystems within which they function, and 3) to better understand the physiology of lactation in relation to lipid metabolism and mammalian life history strategies. During the next 5 years, I will expand research in these inter-related areas. A major focus of my research has been to better understand processes of fatty acid (FA) metabolism, deposition and mobilization in adipose tissue and milk, the implications this has to using FAs to quantitatively estimate predator diets from their metabolically active fat stores, and by doing so to better understand trophic dependencies and adaptations of individual species, marine food web structure, and ecosystem dynamics. Although I developed quantitative FA signature analysis in 2004, it remains a first generation tool and there is a rapidly growing need to improve its accuracy, precision, and confidence in diet estimation of wild animal populations and, thus, our understanding of food web structure and function in key ecosystems. The other focus of my program is on the interplay between lipid metabolism, prolonged fasting and lactation, and their regulation in marine mammals. We will examine the influence of parity (including physiological senescence) and genotype on lactation performance of individuals, factors that have not previously been investigated in a large wild mammal. These studies aim to advance our understanding of the onset, regulation, maintenance and decline in milk production and lipid metabolism in capital-breeding females and the genetics that underlie individual variation in lactation performance.