Research areas
My research interests are aimed at determining the effect that contaminant and pathogen exposure has on the risk of mortality and morbidity in marine mammals, both seals and cetaceans. I am particularly interested in the role of these factors in determining an animals early survival and reproductive capability and in how they interact with the species immune and endocrine systems. This interest has also led to more fundamental questions about how the immune system may be shaped by the life history strategy of marine mammals.
I am also now very interested in the physiolgical adaptations of mammals to a marne existence, particularly at the molecular level; such as the respiratory adaptations and strategies that allow animals to forage at depth and their adaptations to cope with long periods of fasting.
Selected publications
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Open access
Evidence for a genetic basis of urogenital carcinoma in the wild California sea lion
Browning, H. M., Acevedo-Whitehouse, K., Gulland, F. M. D., Hall, A. J., Finlayson, J., Dagleish, M. P., Billington, K. J., Colegrove, K. & Hammond, J. A., Dec 2014, In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 281, 1796, 10 p., 20140240.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Detection and effects of harmful algal toxins in Scottish harbour seals and potential links to population decline
Jensen, S-K., Lacaze, J-P., Hermann, G., Kershaw, J., Brownlow, A., Turner, A. & Hall, A. J., Apr 2015, In: Toxicon. 97, p. 1-14 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review