Brenda Ballachey, Ph.D. (Former Employee)

We developed a general statistical model that provides a comprehensive framework for inference about survival rates based on standing age-structure and ages-at-death data. Previously available estimators are maximum likelihood under the general model, but they use only 1 type of data and require the assumption of a stable age structure and a known population growth rate. We used the...

Observations were made on hems of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) to study their response during the capturing and handling of adult males in summer 1995 at a haul-out at Cape Peirce in southwestern Alaska. Three behaviors (alertness, displacement, and dispersal) were quantified from 16 capture sessions. Herd sizes ranged from 622 to 5,289 walruses. Handling of an...

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the genotoxic effects of crude oil on mink and sea otters, In the first experiment, the effects on mink of chronic exposure to weathered Prudhoe Bay crude oil were studied, Female mink were fed a diet that included weathered crude oil for a period of 3 weeks prior to mating, during pregnancy and until weaning. Kits were exposed through...

No abstract available.

Current information about the utility of genetic markers for estimating population structuring in sea otters (Enhydra lutris) is reviewed. Analyses of spatial population structuring with biochemical and molecular genetic markers are discussed in the context of the species' ecology and history of exploitation. Studies that have used a diversity of genetic markers including allozymes...

The sea otter, Enhydra lutris, is the largest member of the Mustelidae family and is the only one which lives entirely in marine waters. Sea otters are unique among marine mammals because, unlike whales, dolphins and seals, they do not have a layer of fat or blubber to keep them warm in the cool oceans of the North Pacific. Instead, sea otters depend on dense fur that traps tiny air...