Personal Profile
Dr. Stephen J. Trumble
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Education
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Bio
I was raised in rural Michigan (Jackson County; Columbia Central HS) where I spent my summer days working cutting, bailing and stacking hay on nearby farms. I would cool off in nearby lakes and ponds where I often spent considerable time observing the local flora and fauna. During high school I would tell anyone who would listen that I was going to be a marine biologist. One influential high school biology teacher was Mr. Joe Budek, who superbly explained the fundamentals of biology and taught me that in order to succeed in biology you must have passion. Passion I had. After graduation, I was offered a track and field scholarship at Texas State University. This afforded me the opportunity to pursue my dream of becoming a biologist. While at Texas State I majored in marine biology and minored in chemistry. I was mentored by Dr. Stan Sissom, an invertebrate zoologist. Once in his office he asked, “What will you do with your life?” “I am going to be a marine biologist” I explained. After declaring that it’s a very competitive field because “everyone wants to swim with Flipper” He offered some wonderful advice; follow your heart and do not let anyone negatively influence your dreams or goals and foremost he explained that in order to become a good marine biologist, you first have to become a good biologist.
I became interested in marine mammals while at Moss Landing Marine Labs working with Dr. Jim Harvey. I spent much of my time getting my hands dirty capturing hundreds of harbor seals and sea lions along the California coast. I also had the opportunity to work on fur seals in Alaska and sea lions in Baja California. It was during these years that I became interested in the physiological adaptations of marine mammals. However, it wasn’t until my doctorate program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, working with one of the foremost marine mammal physiologist, Dr. Mike Castellini, that I started to understand the complexities surrounding the physiology and adaptations of marine mammals in extreme environments. While working alongside Dr. Castellini, I had the opportunity to study the physiology of marine mammals from the Arctic to the Antarctic, focusing on digestive physiology and health aspects of declining populations.
So, what made a kid from the rural Midwest pursue and become a marine biologist who studies seals and sea lions in such extreme environments? I suppose I was lucky enough to have family/teachers/instructors all along the way to influence me in a positive manner.
Research Interests
My interests as a scientist include studying the ecological and physiological adaptations and mechanisms of animals to life in the marine and terrestrial environment. Recently, my research has focused on physiological constraints as a function of energy balance, lipid and protein balance and digestive performance in response to environmental stressors. My research interests and plans concentrate on the role of lipids and associated enzymes within skeletal muscles during acute physiological events. I am also interested in using metabolomic techniques to assess the genotype-phenotype as well as genotype-envirotype relationships of Antarctic animals (penguins and seals). The goal of my research is to devise techniques to reduce functional and environmental deficits in humans and animals.
Stephen_trumble's Recent Blog Entries
Final thoughts from Dr. Steve
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Mon Dec 18 18:25:02 2006
When we met nearly 3 months ago in the LAX airport, some of us had never met before. A brief introduction is the best one can hope for in this line of work and the next thing you know, you have a new roommate and lab mates and are thrown together in the extreme environment of the Antarctic. You have to trust these strangers with your life at times. We landed on the ice in early October and after a couple weeks of preparation our field season started in earnest. The days were long and sometimes.....
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On to Pups!
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Wed Nov 8 12:05:53 2006
Just to update those interested. Yesterday, three of the MBT (Kanatous, Trumble and Noren) flew out on a helicopter in an attempt to locate and sample a couple juveniles. We traversed back and forth throughout Wolschlag Bay with little success (we found one juvenile, but we had already sampled this one!!). So, today we will start sampling weaned pups. We will drive to our Fish Hut and attach a "seal sled" to our vehicle and then drive to Tent Island and try to find some pups to sample. We.....
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to Boundry School
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Fri Oct 27 19:49:11 2006
How do the seals dive down so far with all the pressure and not get squished?
Good Question! The reason these seals do not have the problems that we would at depth is because of their shape (shaped like a football which has advantages of being squished), the fact that they do not have air sinuses like ourselves to get squished, and some other reinforced parts (aveoli in luns for example) that all help keeping these animals diving with little ill effects of pressure.
Do you have a tent or.....
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Muscle Beach - On a Roll!!
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Tue Oct 24 20:47:40 2006
Hello All! Well, the Muscle Beach team has been busy working up seals around the Delbridge Is. area. To date we have sampled 5 adult Weddell seals along with 1 juvenile, making our total 6 overall. Last year at this time we sampled our first animal on the 25th of October, so we are well ahead of schedule. All of the adults we have sampled have been male (females are giving birth so we leave them alone!) with one weighing in at a over 500 kg (1000+ pounds!). These animals are HUGE! We will have.....
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Seal #1!!!
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Thu Oct 19 12:33:30 2006
Well, it's official, we captured and sampled our first seal of the season! It was a male that we captured near Tent Island. The weather was good (-34 but not windy) for sampling, although it was COLD and most everything froze as soon as it was exposed to the air. We approached the male as it was resting and placed a head bag on it to keep it calm. Next we administered drugs to keep the animal and ourselves out of harms way. Next, we placed the seal into a sling and, using a tripod, weighed the.....
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Tomorrow is a BIG day!!
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Mon Oct 16 22:40:09 2006
Today is October 17th here and tomorrow is the big day; we are finally going to sample an animal! After a helocopter flight last Saturday with Dr. Kanatous and Linnea Pearson in which we spotted nearly 200 animals (between McMurdo Station and Cape Royds along various ice cracks and near islands) we have finally gathered the locations of animals and assembled all of our gear and now can start sampling. We leave at 8am to take our fish hut to a spot in which he hope to have great success in seal.....
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Any Day NOW!!
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Thu Oct 12 14:04:54 2006
The Muscle Beach team has put the finishing touches on preparing for our field work. This morning we loaded up our Fish Hut (a large box “sled” that has a heater and shelving that we use as our field camp) with all of our gear (tents, sleeping bags, food, ice axes, tables, chairs, cooking supplies) along with making sure the snowmobiles are ready to go. Last night after dinner the team made a trip out to Tent Island to survey for animals. Hooray! We found 14 animals (which means they are.....
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All warm in McMurdo!
Posted By Stephen_Trumble, Dr. Kanatous on Mon Oct 9 19:50:06 2006
Hi ALL. This is my first blog onto the Polar science 2006 site. I must say that I am happy to be a part of your website. So, the weather in McMurdo today is COLD! It is a condition 2 outside, which means seriously cold weather and very strong winds! Just looking out the window makes me shiver! The good thing is that i am inside the lab working where it is all nice and warm. The not-so-good news is that our team members, Jay, Shawn and Linnea are outside in "happy camper" school!!! Poor souls......
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