Victoria M. Neises, Ph.D.

Animal Physiologist

Much of my research focuses on how the physiology of an organism shapes its behavior in response to environmental change. My research encompasses nutritional and metabolic physiology, quantitative ecology, and foraging behavior.

Photo by Anastasia Taioglou on Unsplash

Research

To date, my work has focused on marine mammals in Alaskan ecosystems and has attempted to explore how changes in the prey field might be impacting pinniped (seals and sea lions) populations from a metabolic perspective.

To assess these types of questions I use a variety of quantitative methods, including nonparametric analysis, such as PERMANOVA, linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), as well as regression analyses like GLM/GLMM and GAM/GAMM, as well as machine learning techniques such as random forest analysis.

Photo by Keith Luke on Unsplash

Nutritional Physiology

My work in nutritional physiology focuses on the examination of blubber fatty acid profiles of Alaskan harbor seals and Steller sea lions. Because blubber fatty acids are largely derived from diet in these animals, we are able to use them as a proxy for diet and examine how they differ and change over time. In this study, I was able to use two large multi-decadal data sets to examine (1) spatial and temporal differences in blubber fatty acid profiles of Alaskan harbor seal populations, (2) examine blubber fatty acid profiles among pregnant and lactating harbor seals, and mother pup pairs, and lastly, (3) compare regional and seasonal blubber fatty acid profiles of Alaskan harbor seals and Steller sea lions to examine the degree of prey partitioning between these species. As a sentinel species in Alaska, the ability to survey blubber fatty acids of harbor seals provides a way to not only monitor diet changes that could lead to population level impacts, but also provides a means to oversee prey community changes and ecosystem health within the regions they inhabit. This work is a collaboration between Baylor University and Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Respiratory Physiology

My work in respiratory physiology focused on how sea lions physiologically respond to increased foraging stress caused by changes in their prey field. In this study we determined that while sea lions are able to adjust their dive behavior to maintain foraging efficiency as the cost of foraging increases, their ability to sequester accumulating carbon dioxide diminishes. We proposed that carbon dioxide may be a more sensitive physiological marker than oxygen when examining the metabolic cost of foraging. This project was a collaboration between Alaska Pacific University and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

CV

Animal physiologist specializing in metabolic physiology of marine mammals. Has knowledge in many aspects of marine systems, including physiological, chemical, and climatological influences on marine mammals and fishes along the Pacific coast. Familiar with federal laws and regulations including Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, to name a few. Able to manage and analyze large data sets utilizing both univariate and multivariate parametric and non-parametric statistical tests, as well as communicate and promote findings in reports, published manuscripts, and presentations.

Peer Reviewed Manuscripts

  • Neises VM, Karpovich SA, Keogh MJ, and Trumble SJ. 2022. Examination of blubber fatty acids in pregnant and lactating Alaskan harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). Aquatic Mammals Journal. Doi:10.1578/AM.48.4.2022.362
  • Neises VM, Karpovich SA, Keogh MJ, King RS, Trumble SJ. 2021. Regional, seasonal and age class blubber fatty acid signature analysis of harbour seals in Alaska from 1997 to 2010. Conservation Physiology. Doi:10.1093/conphys/coab036
  • Neises VM, Zeligs J, Harris B, and Cornick L. 2017. Examining the metabolic cost of otariid foraging under varying conditions. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.Doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2016.11.001

R

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), Principal component analysis (PCA), Random forest analysis, Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), General linear modeling (GLM/GLMM), General additive modeling (GAM/GAMM), PERMANOVA, Parametric univariate and multivariate analyses

QGIS/ArcGIS

Spatial analysis, R and QGIS integration for spatial modeling

SPSS

Univariate and multivariate statistics, Data exploration, Data descriptives

Python

Data cleanup and integration, File manipulation

Get in touch

Please message or follow me below.