Marine Mammal Ecotoxicology

Exposure to persistent organic pollutants such has been shown to cause reproductive failure in wild seals and other aquatic mammal species and endocrine disruptive toxic mechanisms are believed to be involved. Impaired reproductive capacity exacerbates the ability of marine mammal populations to recover from other threats such as climate change, over-fishing, hunting and habitat destruction. The project aims to study receptor-level interaction of pollutants with sex hormone receptors in marine mammal reproductive tissues, and to undertake population bio-monitoring of pollutant exposure and sex hormone concentrations in wild seals. This work will be in collaboration with the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in the Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospitals.