Physiological and biochemical insights into the biology of marine vertebrates and the ecosystems within which they function

我的研究项目结合了海洋脊椎动物的脂肪生物化学和新陈代谢、能量学、比较生理学和生态学等领域，以更好地了解它们不同的生活史策略，以及它们如何应对或可能受到环境条件变化的制约。我们使用一套工具，从生化示踪剂到跟踪技术，再到整个动物的能量测量，并结合其他生活史特征的测量。我的计划的一个主要目标是利用我对脂肪酸(FA)代谢和生物合成的研究来了解饲料中FA的沉积和处理，以便开发一种相对非侵入性的方法来根据自由放养的海洋和陆地动物的代谢活性脂肪储备来确定它们的饲料(定量FA特征分析，QFASA)。饮食知识对于理解动物能量学、营养依赖性以及个体和种群的生活史至关重要；因此，它也是理解食物网络结构、生态系统动态和动物种群对环境变化的反应的关键组成部分。在下一个资金周期中，我们将使用新的统计技术提高QFASA程序的准确性和精确度，开发解决来自真实数据的问题的方法，并将这些新工具汇编成一个发布的QFASA程序包，供其他研究人员使用。这些工具，通过其他新的圈养研究进行了验证，将用于我们的所有其他工作。以我们在北太平洋最新启动的研究为基础，我们将结合生理采样和定位遥测技术，研究对海洋动物生理的实时和遗留影响的潜在驱动因素，以及海洋气候、冬季迁徙模式和繁殖季节之前和期间的觅食努力的变化如何以不同或共同的方式影响未来的繁殖前条件、繁殖投资和繁殖成功。我们将扩大我们的研究，以灰海豹为模式物种，研究哺乳性能、幼体存活和招募以及终生繁殖成功的来源和变异驱动因素，并研究资源利用的个体专门化及其对生态系统的影响，以及长期(40年)环境和生态变化对这种大型海洋捕食者的影响。我的研究计划还将培养跨多学科领域的新一代科学家。我的研究计划将继续提供对生理过程、个体健康、种群动态和生态系统功能的关键洞察，并将对自由活动的海洋哺乳动物、海鸟和鱼类种群的保护和管理具有重要应用。**

My research program combines the fields of lipid biochemistry and metabolism, energetics, comparative physiology and ecology of marine vertebrates to better understand their varied life history strategies and how they cope with, or may be constrained by, changing environmental conditions. We use a suite of tools ranging from biochemical tracers to tracking technology to whole animal energetic measurements, in conjunction with measures of other life history characteristics. A major goal of my program has been to use my studies on fatty acid (FA) metabolism and biosynthesis to understand deposition and processing of FAs from diet, in order to develop a relatively non-invasive method to determine diets of free-ranging marine and terrestrial animals from their metabolically active fat stores (quantitative FA signature analysis, QFASA). Knowledge of diets is critical to understanding animal energetics, trophic dependencies and life histories of individuals and populations; it is thus also a critical component to understanding food web structure, ecosystem dynamics and responses of animal populations to environmental change. Over the next funding cycle, we will advance the accuracy and precision of QFASA procedures using new statistical techniques, develop methodology to address questions stemming from real-life data, and compile these new tools into a published QFASA package in "R" that will be readily accessible to other investigators. These tools, validated with additional new captive studies, will be used in all of our other work. Building on our newly initiated studies in the North Pacific Ocean, we will use a combination of physiological sampling and positional telemetry techniques to examine the potential drivers of both real-time and carry-over effects on physiology in marine animals, and how variations in ocean climate, winter migration patterns, and foraging effort before and during the breeding season differentially or collectively affect future pre-breeding condition, reproductive investment, and breeding success. We will expand our studies using grey seals as a model species to examine sources and drivers of variation in lactation performance, juvenile survival and recruitment, and lifetime reproductive success, and we will examine individual specialization in resource utilization, its impacts on the ecosystem, and the influence of long-term (4 decades) environmental and ecological change on this large marine predator. My research program will also train a new generation of scientists across multidisciplinary fields. My research program will continue to provide critical insight into physiological process, individual fitness, population dynamics, and ecosystem function, and will have important applications to the conservation and management of free-ranging marine mammal, seabird, and fish populations.**