Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Earth & Marine Sciences A308
Phone: 831.459.5358
Fax: 831.459.5353
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BURNEY J. LE BOEUF Research Professor of Biology BA, University of California, Berkeley MA, San Francisco State University PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Office for Research 29 Clark Kerr Hall           100 Shaffer Road University of California Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Phone: 831.459.5014 Fax: 831.459.1658 leboeuf@ucsc.edu office hours

Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals

The research in my laboratory has focused on the social behavior of pinnipeds, the diving behavior and diving physiology of elephant seals and their migratory behavior and foraging ecology, forces that control and limit colony growth and population status, and the effect of marine pollutants on the well-being of marine mammals.

Selected Publications

Condit, R., B. J. Le Boeuf, P.A. Morris, and M. Sylvan. 2007. Estimating population size in asynchronous aggregations: a Bayesian approach and test with elephant seal censuses. Marine Mammal Science 23(4): 834-855.

David Aurioles, Paul L. Koch, and Burney J. Le Boeuf. 2006. Differences in foraging location of Mexican and California elephant seals: evidence from stable isotopes in pups. Marine Mammal Science 22(2): 326-338.

Debier, C., C. Chalon, B.J. Le Boeuf, T. de Tillesse, Y Larondelle, J.P. Thomé. 2006. Mobilization of PCBs from blubber to blood in northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) during the post-weaning fast. Aquatic Toxicology 80, 149-157.

Hall, B.L., A.R. Hoelzel, C. Baroni, G.H. Denton, B.J. Le Boeuf,
B.Overturf,and A.L. Töpf. 2006. Holocene elephant seal distribution implies warmer-than-present climate in the Ross Sea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103(27): 10213-10217.

Debier, C., Le Boeuf, B.J., Ikonomou, M.G., de Tillesse, T. Larondelle, Y. and Ross, P.S. 2005. Polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans in weaned northern elephant seal pups from central California, USA. . Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 24: 629-633.

Le Boeuf, B.J. and D. E. Crocker. 2005. Ocean climate and seal condition. BMC Biology 3: 9.

Le Boeuf, B.J.  2004. Hunting and migratory movements of white sharks in the eastern North Pacific.  Memoirs of the National Institute of Polar Research 58: 89-100.   

Le Boeuf, B.J., J. Giesy, K. Kannan, N. Kajiwara, S. Tanabe and C. Debier.  2002.  Organochloride pollutants in California sea lions revisited.  BMC Ecology 2:11-18.

Thornton, S.J., D.M. Spielman, N.J. Pelc, W.F. Block, D.E. Crocker, D.P. Costa, B.J. Le Boeuf and P.W. Hochachka.  2001.  Effects of forced diving on the spleen and hepatic sinus in northern elephant seal pups. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.  98:9413-9418.

Le Boeuf, B.J., D.E. Crocker, J. Grayson, J. Gedamke, P.M. Webb, S.B. Blackwell, and D.P. Costa. 2000. Respiration and heart rate at the surface between dives in northern elephant seals. Journal of Experimental Biology 203:3265-3274.