{"id":5918,"date":"2024-09-16T11:22:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T18:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/?p=5918"},"modified":"2024-09-16T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T18:23:08","slug":"toward-an-enhanced-understanding-of-large-whale-ecology-a-standardized-protocol-to-quantify-hormones-in-whale-blubber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/2024\/09\/16\/toward-an-enhanced-understanding-of-large-whale-ecology-a-standardized-protocol-to-quantify-hormones-in-whale-blubber\/","title":{"rendered":"Toward an enhanced understanding of large whale ecology: a standardized protocol to quantify hormones in whale blubber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr. Alejandro A. Fern\u00e1ndez Aj\u00f3, Postdoctoral Scholar, Marine Mammal Institute \u2013 OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Sciences, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna (GEMM) Lab.<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whales are exposed to an increasing number of human-induced stressors\u2014ranging from pollution and bycatch to the impacts of climate change on prey quality and distribution. Understanding how these factors affect whale health is critical for their conservation. The use of alternative approaches (i.e., alternative to blood samples) for gathering physiological information on large whales using a variety of non-lethal and non to minimally invasive sample matrices (i.e., blubber biopsies, blow, and fecal samples) provides a window into their endocrine state, allowing researchers to assess how these animals respond to both short-term and long-term stressors, and assess their reproductive and nutritional status. However, a lack of standardized protocols might hinder the comparability of results across studies, making it difficult to draw broad conclusions about the health and reproductive parameters of different whale populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Logan Pallin<\/a> and I organized a lab exchange, funded by The Company of Biologists, to start a new collaboration aimed at bridging this gap by validating and standardizing methods for endocrine assessments in whale blubber. This is not just a technical exercise; it is a foundational step towards building equity and capacity in laboratories worldwide to conduct reliable and comparable endocrine assessments, enhancing the opportunities for multi-lab collaborations. Through this exchange, we aim to consolidate a standardized approach that will yield consistent results between laboratories, enabling better comparisons across different large whale populations. Hosted by the University of California Santa Cruz Biotelemetry and Behavioral Ecology Lab (UCSC-BTBEL Lab<\/a>) under the mentorship of Dr. Logan Pallin, this experience is instrumental in advancing my research on large whale ecology and conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Logan Pallin and Alejandro Fernandez Aj\u00f3 conducting hormone extractions from gray whale blubber samples (left). Preparing a microtiter assay plate for hormone quantification in blubber (right). <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this exchange at the BBE Lab, I had the privilege of working closely with Dr. Logan Pallin, whose expertise in large whale endocrinology (particularly analyzing blubber biopsies) has been instrumental in shaping modern approaches to whale research. The lab\u2019s cutting-edge equipment and Logan\u2019s extensive experience with hormone extraction and quantification methods provided an ideal setting for refining our protocols. Our work focused on the extraction and quantification of progesterone from gray whale blubber samples provided by the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Stranding Network, part of MMI. These large blubber sections allow for repeated sub-sampling to ensure that the selected immunoassays reliably detect and measure the hormones of interest, while also assessing potential sources of variability when applying a standardized protocol. We initially focused our tests and validations on progesterone, as it is the precursor of all major steroid hormones and serves as an indicator of reproductive state in females.<\/p>\n\n\n\n