Back to the future: Pacific walrus stress response and reproductive status in a changing Arctic

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is an iconic Arctic marine mammal that Alaska Natives rely on as a subsistence, economic, and cultural resource. A decrease in critical sea ice habitat and uncertain population numbers have led to walruses being listed as a candidate for the Endangered Species Act. However, there is no clear understanding of how walruses might be affected by climate change. The first objective of this study was to describe how bone steroid hormone concentrations relate to commonly used blubber and serum steroid hormone concentrations (i.e., cortisol, estradiol, progesterone and testosterone), because steroid hormones have not been extracted from marine mammal bone until now. Bone, blubber, and serum were collected from individual adult walruses (n = 34) harvested by Native Alaskan subsistence hunters during 2014 and 2015. Complete turnover of cortical bone in a walrus skeleton was estimated as ~33 years, approximately the lifetime of a walrus. Results showed bone and blubber steroid hormone concentrations were similar (P = 0.96, 0.51, 0.27 for cortisol, estradiol, and progesterone (males only), respectively), but not testosterone (males and females, P = 0.003) nor progesterone in blubber of female walruses (P = 0.007). Progesterone concentrations in males were significantly correlated between bone and blubber (R² = 0.51, P 200 calendar years before present (BP)), historical (n =135, 200 – 20 BP), and modern (n = 47, 2014 – 2015) time periods, but were also analyzed at a finer decadal (1830s – 2010s) scale. Walrus bone cortisol concentrations measured in modern-day walruses were similar to other time periods (P = 0.38, 0.07, for archaeological and historical time periods, respectively) indicating no increase in the stress response of walruses as a result of current sea ice conditions in the Arctic. Estradiol (females only), progesterone, and testosterone were significantly negatively correlated with walrus population estimates (P = 0.008, 0.003,