Charismatic Megafauna & Oceanography Laboratory

Digital Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Click here to view the works and career accomplishments of Amy Hirons.

Research Focus

At the Charismatic Megafauna and Oceanography Lab (CMOL), our research interests lie in the study of ocean energetics, largely focusing on trophic dynamics and how the physicality of the aquatic environment impacts energy flow in biological organisms. Food webs providing this energy to organisms are comprised of not just nutrients but also inorganic and organic contaminants. CMOL uses flora and fauna as bioindicators, or recorders, of what is happening in the environment. 

Research Activities 

CMOL conducts research in marine ecosystems from the Arctic to the Antarctic, including locations as diverse as Alaska, Russia, Hawai’i, Peru, and South Florida. The diversity of organisms employed in our studies ranges from seagrasses and mangroves to zooplankton and fish to wading birds and penguins to sea turtles and marine mammals. Our domestic and international collaborators have backgrounds in marine biology, chemistry, zooarchaeology, and veterinary medicine.

The linkages among animals, plants, protists, and their environments are varied and oftentimes more complex than we can imagine. Our challenge is to understand these relationships and decipher the roles each organism plays in its ocean environment and even beyond its boundaries.

Current Research Topics

Our active studies include the following:

• Northern sea otters' trophic and contaminant impact on populations
• POP technique development for keratinized tissues
• Whale baleen as a recorder of inorganic and organic contaminants
• Hawaiian monk seals' trophic and contaminant reconstruction
• Peruvian pinnipeds' immunoresponse to contaminants
• Maternal transfer of contaminants among marine mammals and penguins
• Stress and response in Arctic ice seals
• Coastal Alaskan wolves' diet and contaminant transfer between ocean and land

Associated Researchers

Dimitrios Giarikos, Nova Southeastern University (NSU)

David Kerstetter, NSU

Christopher Blanar, NSU

Michael Adkesson, Chicago Zoological Society

Sylvia Brunner, New Mexico Museum of Natural History

Lawrence K. Duffy, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Lara Horstmann, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Lori Polasek, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Gretchen Roffler, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Verena Gill, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

Charles Littnan, NOAA

Stephen Trumble, Baylor University

Sascha Usenko, Baylor University

You can learn more about the lab and it's activities at: https://charismaticmegafauna.wixsite.com/cmol-nsu