What we do

Research

Current Research
Our research group is a leader in studies on the interactions of two of the most important stressors facing wildlife on Earth: climate change and environmental contaminants. We work across disciplines in the natural sciences, including chemistry, biology, environmental science, biogeochemistry, and ecotoxicology, and we collaborate with social scientists in using traditional and local ecological knowledge approaches. We study climate change and chemical pollution in northern wildlife and ecosystems, which requires interdisciplinarity to identify issues and to support adaptation and mitigation strategies with local communities, federal agencies, and international programs. You will find below the broad, interconnected themes of this research program.

Climate change ecology
Melting sea ice represents a key threat to the sustainability of Arctic marine mammals. Conversely, temperate and sub-Arctic marine mammals are redistributing northward to occupy these new areas of open water. Shifting community composition may lead to increased competition for food, as well as greater risk of predation, such as due to range-expanding killer whales. Yet, little is known about comparative feeding patterns among native and non-native marine mammals in the Arctic. We are using a multi-proxy, chemical tracers-based approach to determine changes in potential for competition and predation among species in a natural laboratory for climate change, the Arctic.

Arctic marine pollution
Chemical pollution is a major concern for the health of Arctic marine mammals and the people who harvest them for food, and climate change is impacting contaminant input into, and distribution within, northern ecosystems. We are evaluating, for example, how sea ice-driven changes in foraging habitat and behavior influence exposure to mercury, PCBs, PFAS, and other contaminants of concern for sensitive Arctic wildlife.

Check out our WhaleAdapt project here!

Approaches to quantifying marine mammal diets
The feeding habits of large marine mammals can have outsized impacts on food webs and may play a major role in food web restructuring with climate change. Yet, estimating the diets of species that live underwater in remote regions and that undergo large-scale movements remains a major challenge. We are developing and validating novel chemical tracer tools to quantify marine mammal diets. These tools include stable isotopes, fatty acids, and amino acid and fatty acid isotope analysis (known as compound-specific isotope analysis).

Stress ecology
The impacts of co-occurring environmental stressors on wildlife populations are rarely considered. Our work is showing that the pressing threats facing wildlife populations can no longer be studied in isolation and that climate change impacts and adaptation must be considered more holistically, in terms of connections to other global stressors, i.e., the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

To learn more, check out our Publications page!