The Story of My PhD

So you may be wondering how a marine mammal biologist can be undertaking a PhD project in which there is all likelihood that he will never see his study species.  I must admit, I've asked myself that question once or twice over the past 6 months, but really the answer is quite simple.  My doctoral work is primarily concerned with animals that are already dead, be it for one year, 50 years, or 2000 years.  Here's the run down:

My dissertation is part of a larger project called, unsurprisingly, WALRUS, a large-scale collaborative project aimed at understanding the impacts of changing climates on Pacific walruses.  By investigating how historic (and prehistoric) changes in climate impacted walruses, we hope to gain a better understanding of the effects current and future climate change on today's Pacific walrus population.  To this end, we are using samples from modern (stranded dead or subsistence harvested by Native Alaskans), historic (housed in museum collections), and prehistoric (recovered during archaeological digs) walruses to study how their migratory movements, feeding behaviors, genetic diversity, demographics, and even stress levels have changed over the past 2,500 years.  The impetus behind this work comes from changes in walrus behavior observed in recent years, namely the hauling-out of thousands of walruses on land, which have garnered a lot of recent media attention through stunning photos like this one:

Source: Chukot-TINRO

These haul-out events are thought to be the result of a lack of available sea ice habitat, and can lead to overcrowding, trampling of smaller animals, over-exploitation of food resources in a localized area, and increased sensitivity to disturbance by humans and/or land predators.  As a result, scientists, wildlife managers, and conservation groups have become concerned about the health of Pacific walrus populations.  The WALRUS project is designed to provide these groups with a better understanding of just how adaptable Pacific walruses are to changing climates and will hopefully give us an indication of just how dire the current circumstances are for walruses today.

My specific niche within this larger-scale project is yet to be determined, but it safe to say at this point that there will be plenty of work for me to do over the next 3+ years.  Maybe this time I'll do a better job of keeping you, my loyal readers, updated on my progress.

Updating the Update

Hi again,

My last post was brief, to the point, and left much in the way off cliff-hangers, so I'm back to resolve some of those burning questions I'm sure you are asking.  Did he say walrus?

That would be a resounding yes.  The handsome fellow above is a member of my newest study species the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens).  Translated into English that comes roughly to "the animal that split off from the tooth walking horse of the sea."  Makes perfect sense, right?  Well, when you break it down, it does.  "Odo" means "tooth" in Latin, while "benus" means "walk" or "walker."  Walruses (and that is the correct pluralization, sadly, not "walri") were given this name because of the tendency of the males to use their protruding tusks to help haul themselves out of the water and onto the sea ice.  "Rosmarus" has its roots in ancient Norse, meaning "horse of the sea."  Finally, the subspecies designator at the end of the name, "divergens," indicates that the Pacific walrus broke off, or diverged, from the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) some time in their evolutionary history.

Now the catch here is this: despite the fact that I am beginning a PhD focusing entirely on walruses, I may or may not get to see a living walrus during the course of the project.  How's that for another cliff-hanger?  That's how I keep my readers coming back for more.

More details next time!

Casey