Biography

Andrea Hunter is a Master of Science student in the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. She is interested in estimating the energy requirements of all species of marine mammals using a multiple regression model. The statistical model she is building identifies and quantifies intrinsic physiological processes and extrinsic environmental influences controlling marine mammal energy requirements. Her model generates a collection of predictive equations (i.e., tools) that permit the estimation of energy requirements under different conditions for marine mammal species whose metabolisms have never been determined in the field or in the lab. The estimates are useful in ecosystem models, primarily to explore management questions concerning the impact of marine mammals on commercial prey species. Rather than recapitulate the past, her thesis attempts to summarize information available throughout previously published literature and present the
information in a format that promotes the free exchange of scientific information. She has compiled the largest database of marine mammal energetics to date, including approximately 7000 entries. Her thesis also investigates the effect of phylogenic inheritence on the interspecific relationship between basal metabolism and body mass among marine mammal species, as well as the use of predictive models to describe life history characteristics of marine mammals.

Andrea has been a member of the Marine Mammal Research Unit since 1995.
She has worked on many Steller sea lion projects, including studies of
prey quality and diet composition.

Publications & abstracts

Hunter, A.M.J. and A.W. Trites. 2001. An annotated bibliography of scientific literature (1751-2000)
pertaining to Steller sea lions in Alaska. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 9(1): 45 pages.
ISSN 1198-6727.

Hunter, A.M.J., A.W. Trites, and D. Pauly. 2001. Estimating the food requirements for all species of marine
mammals using a multiple regression model. Proceedings of the 14th Biennial Conference on the
Biology of Marine Mammals, November 28-December 3, Vancouver, British Columbia, p.104.

Hunter, A.M.J., A.W. Trites, and D. Pauly. 2000. Estimates of basal metabolic and feeding rates for
marine mammals from measurements of maximum body length. Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial
Symposium of the Comparative Nutrition Society, August 4-9, 2000, Pacific Grove, California, p.103-106.

Hunter, A.M.J., A.W. Trites, and D. Pauly. 1999. Estimates of basal metabolic and feeding rates for
marine mammals from measurements of maximum body length. Proceedings of the 13th Biennial
Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, November 28-December 3, Maui, Hawaii, p.87.

Hunter, A.M.J. 1999. Estimates of basal metabolic, mass-specific basal metabolic, and feeding rates for
marine mammals from measurements of maximum body length and mean body weight. Bachelor of
Science (Honours) Thesis, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. 101 pages.