Geno DeRango

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher studying the behavior of elephant seals through the University of California Santa Cruz. I recently completed my PhD through Bielefeld University, where our group, in collaboration with the Galapagos National Park, studied individual Galapagos sea lions. This work involved intensive long-term studies where we followed local populations of sea lions to quantify birth rates, behavior, and the success of individuals. On a personal level, I'm a transplant from the Midwest United States who left the big cities and cornfields to work with wild marine mammals as part of the stranding networks in both Alaska and California. My fortunate experiences have allowed me to work with a number of talented and dedicated marine biologists and veterinarians. I've become hooked on the ocean and vertebrates that live within it. My interests involve pinniped ecology and conservation, with focus on how stressors can impact their physiology and health. Sea lions are personal favorites as they typically live in remote areas that can be exciting to travel to. Although I enjoy working with individual animals, my goal is to provide physiological data that can help manage conservation efforts for whole species and marine ecosystems.

Lorraine Barbosa, DVM, MPVM

I have been working with marine mammals for several years, including previously as a veterinarian at The Marine Mammal Center, and currently as a veterinarian at California Wildlife Center. My interests include pinniped medicine and conservation, and working to enhance our understanding of and improve wildlife health.

Casandra Gálvez

I am a veterinarian and currently a PhD student in Mexico. I have always been interested in wildlife health, because it reflects a global scenario of our ecosystems reality. For some years I worked with Guadalupe fur seal health, applying different indicators (hematological, pathological, microbiological, and morphometrical) through interdisciplinary collaborations from Mexico, New Zealand, and EE.UU.

For me, morphometric analysis (body condition) acts as a health indicator over time due to their sensibility to natural and anthropogenic factors, such as global warming food availability, habitat disturbance and diseases. Vulnerable populations like Guadalupe fur seal, can be more sensitive to some alterations due to their restricted distribution and abundance. Although it`s an isolated population, it is evident that warmer oceanic condition could significantly impact the entire population. The impact of warm conditions on neonatal fur seal body mass was assessed during three consecutive breeding seasons (2014 to 2016) in Guadalupe Island, B.C., finding a negafive effect on individuals body mass. Due to the fact that San Benito archipelago is under recolonization by Guadalupe fur seal young individuals, their age could make them more sensitive to environmental changes, affecting their feeding habits, body weight, survival, and hence the population recovery.