Researchers at UNCW receive almost $60,000 grant to study Antarctic seals

UNCW researchers received a nearly $60,000 grant to support research on the physiological impacts of climate change on crabeater seals in Antarctica.

UNCW Assistant Professor of Biology and Marine Biology Michael Tift is the lead investigator, and UNCW Ph.D. student Anna Pearson will perform most of the proposed research.

Antarctic krill are about 90 percent of the crabeater seals’ diet, but population has steadily decreased as a result of sea ice loss and krill fishing.

“We will learn how stress and reproductive hormones have changed in crabeater seals using samples collected from the 1950s through 2023,” said Tift.