Poisoned by the Menu - How what Killer Whales Eat Shapes their Toxic Load

In today's episode, we will hear from Clare Andvik, a PhD researcher based at the University of Oslo in Norway, working with the Norwegian Orca Survey.Her research focuses on pollutants accumulating in killer whales, particularly how what they eat shapes their toxic load. During her master's thesis, Clare and her coauthors showed that orcas that eat seals, in addition to fish, have much higher levels of toxic pollutants like PCBs and mercury, meaning they are more at risk of health effects. During her PhD, she is now looking at what the effect of this pollution is on the health of killer whales, and how it interacts with other human-made stressors like whale watching and climate change. Today, we’ll dive into her work that combines the fields of biology, toxicology, and feeding ecology, all while braving the icy conditions of Norway's northern fjords to get data from live whales. Support the Podcast on Patreon: https://patreon.com/ImpactStorytellingPodcast?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkClares Instagram: clareandvikPodcasts Instagram: impact_storytelling_podcastSabines Instagram: sabinemprobst