As the smallest and one of the most recently evolved marine mammals, sea otters face physiological challenges rarely encountered by larger, more derived aquatic species. To examine the effect of these challenges on foraging costs and resultant daily energy budgets, we measured the energetics of resting, grooming, diving and foraging for adult, male sea otters. The energy expended for these diff...

Post-polycythemia vera myelofibrosis (post-PV MF) is a late evolution of PV. In 647 patients with PV, we found that leukocytosis leukocyte count>(15x10(9)/L) at diagnosis is a risk factor for the evolution of post-PV MF. In a series of 68 patients who developed post-PV MF, median survival was 5.7 years. Hemoglobin level less than 100 g/L (10 g/dL) at diagnosis of post-PV MF was an independent r...

Previous research in southeast Alaska on the effects of sea otters Enhydra lutris seagrass Zostera marina communities identified many but not all trophic relationships that were predicted by a otter-mediated cascade. To further resolve these connections, we compared biomass, carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen 15 N) stable isotope (SI), fatty acid (FA) data from 16 taxa at 3 sites with high low otter ...

Two complementary approaches were used to assess year-round variation in the diet of sea otters Enhydra lutris around Prince Wales Island (POW) southern Southeast Alaska, a region characterized by mixed-bottom habitat. We observed foraging determine composition during spring and summer. Then, we obtained otter vibrissae, which record temporal patterns as they grow, from subsistence hunters iden...

Despite increasing use of intermediate frequency (IF) magnetic fields (MFs) in occupational and domestic settings, scientific evidence necessary for health risk assessments of IF MF is insufficient. Male and female Crl:CD(SD) rats (12 per sex per group) were exposed to 20 kHz, 0.20 mT(root mean square, rms) or 60 kHz, 0.10 mT(rms) sinusoidal MFs for 22 h day(-1) for 14 days (acute) or 13 weeks ...

Marine mammals being among the top predators in the food web tend to accumulate organic and inorganic contaminants from the environment. The body burden of contaminants in these species could reflect their foods and thus contaminant levels could serve as proxies on the changes of ecosystem. A pilot study was carried out to investigate the possibility of radionuclide leakage at Amchitka using a ...

The processes promoting disease in wild animal populations are highly complex, yet identifying these processes is critically important for conservation when disease is limiting a population. By combining field studies with epidemiologic tools, we evaluated the relationship between key factors impeding southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) population growth: disease and resource limitation....