Contact Information
Graduate Program in Marine Science and Limnology336A Irving II
P.O. Box 757220
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220
Phone: (907) 474-5243
ftsdi@uaf.edu
Susan InglisPh.D. Student
Career Goals
A postdoctoral position to continue my studies on wildlife nutrition, then hopefully a job with a government agency.
Research Overview
I am investigating how pinniped species meet their nutritional demands while foraging on a prey base that changes both spatially and temporally (R/101-03). Pinnipeds consume a wide variety of vertebrate and invertebrate prey. The rate of energy and nutrient intake depends on the quality, size, and species of available prey. A flexible digestive and metabolic response to dietary substrate would provide pinnipeds with a method to accommodate the unpredictability of prey type and abundance.
My research focuses on determining the degree of nutritional variability in prey, and the metabolic flexibility three pinniped species, Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), Alaskan harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), and Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii), exhibit in response to diet. In particular, I am studying the effect of diet on protein metabolism in these species using stable isotope tracer techniques.