Development and validation of a technique for detection of stress and pregnancy in large whales
Abstract
This two year study will validate blubber steroid analysis in 3 species of large whales - 2 mysticetes and 1 odontocete. The development and validation will take 2 forms: analytical and biological. The analytical validation is comprised of standard laboratory methods for validating immunoassays. To initiate the biological validation, humpback whale tissues will be analyzed along the dorsal and ventrolateral axis of the body as well as in depth of the blubber layer to determine how much variability exists with an individual whale depending on the location and depth the sample came from. The second part of the biological validation will compare measured concentrations between sexes, known life history stages and reproductive classes using archived tissues from humpback whales, blue whales, and false killer whales. The validated assays will be used to analyze stress and reproductive hormones to compare physiological function relative to proximity to anthropogenic disturbances.Two additional opportunities will augment this work. We have been given the opportunity to access archived blue whale samples, some of which are from the Southern California Naval Sonar Range. The second opportunity is confirmation of the use of a non-invasive method of determining physiological indices in individual animals through the use of whale blow as a sample matrix. This methodology will be tried on humpback whales and the samples will undergo a inter-laboratory validation with Dr. Kathleen Hunt s lab at the New England Aquarium for a variety of hormones, but the primary focus wil be on indices of stress such that analysis of stress hormones in blow can be incorporated into humpback and blue whale studies from Naval Sonar ranges.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 23, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141613016
Entities
People
- Shannon Atkinson
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Alaska Fairbanks