David Griffiths
Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
This presentation will focus on the distinguishing characteristics of field work with polar marine mammals, seen in contrast to laboratory-based research on domestic species.
Should one wish to collect tissue or data from marine mammals for anatomical, histological or physiological studies, it is inevitably necessary to conduct a field trip to the respective habitat. Seen in regard to laboratory-based research, however, such field work is associated with low effectiveness and high cost. Low effectiveness is due to limited access to habitat (for example, summer only), limited possibility to process collected data, and often by the need for a team of support people. High cost is due to the expense of travelling to the habitat, the need for a substantial amount of equipment for accommodation, electricity, and local travel, and again by the need for field support staff.
In addition, the research subjects are wild animals of often considerable size, which also places special demands on the design of the field work if one is to avoid introducing artefacts into the data.
These factors will be illustrated by three field projects: (1) satellite telemetry studies of walruses on Greenland and Spitsbergen, (2) studies of metabolism of Weddell seals in Antarctica, and (3) studies of seasonal breeding of elephant seals on Macquarie Island.
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