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

我的研究计划将比较生理学和生态学与脊椎动物的脂肪生物化学和新陈代谢结合起来。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，这些研究应用于哺乳动物、海鸟和鱼类种群的保护和管理，并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有三个方面：1)促进我们对脊椎动物脂肪代谢及其调节的了解，2)应用这一知识和相关知识，以更好地了解自由放牧动物的觅食生态和它们所在的生态系统，以及3)更好地了解与脂肪代谢和哺乳动物生活史策略有关的哺乳生理学。在接下来的5年里，我将扩大对这些相互关联领域的研究。我研究的一个主要重点是更好地了解脂肪组织和牛奶中脂肪酸(FA)的代谢、沉积和动员过程，这对使用FA从其代谢活跃的脂肪储备中定量估计捕食者的饮食有何影响，并通过这样做来更好地了解个体物种的营养依赖和适应、海洋食物网络结构和生态系统动态。虽然我在2004年开发了定量FA特征分析，但它仍然是第一代工具，在野生动物种群的食物估计中提高其准确性、精密度和置信度的需求迅速增长，从而提高我们对关键生态系统中食物网络结构和功能的理解。我的计划的另一个重点是研究海洋哺乳动物的脂肪代谢、长时间禁食和哺乳以及它们的调节之间的相互作用。我们将研究产次(包括生理衰老)和基因型对个体哺乳性能的影响，这些因素以前从未在大型野生哺乳动物中进行过调查。这些研究旨在促进我们对产奶量和脂肪代谢的开始、调节、维持和下降的理解，以及哺乳性能个体差异的遗传学基础。

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.