Eric Montie
M.S. Environmental Toxicology - 1999 Clemson University
Thesis Title: Dieldrin Effects on the Biochemistry and Control of Cold Adaptation in the Deer Mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus
Current Employer: Doctoral Student - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Previous Employer: The National Marine Fisheries Service / National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, Charleston, South Carolina
Note: Co-Chaired Committee with
Dr. Ed Pivorun
Clemson University
Presently, I work as a research biologist in the Marine Mammal and Protected Resource Branch. Our program focuses on three areas: 1) Stock identification of coastal bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, 2) Method development to quantify the health status of individuals in order to estimate population health and 3) Effects of contaminants on individual and population health. I work directly for Larry Hansen and our Branch Chief, Patricia Fair, and with my colleagues Heidi Hinkeldey, Wayne McFee, Jesse Stenftenagel, and Eric Zolman.
To study stock structure of bottlenose dolphins, we use a multi-disciplinary approach including photo identification, genetic, and radiotelemetry techniques. Photo-identifications of dorsal fins in the Charleston, South Carolina area are collected to compare with other areas along the Atlantic coast. Biopsy sampling and subsequent genetic analysis of mitochondrial and satellite DNA of bottlenose dolphin skin samples collected in the Charleston area are compared to other areas along the Atlantic coast. Radio and satellite tracking data are plotted to determine the distribution of animals and migration patterns.
To monitor the health status of individuals and the role of contaminants on health, a multi-disciplinary investigative approach is taken using data obtained from stranded animals, animals captured in the wild, and in vitro studies. Deaths of all stranded cetaceans are investigated by performing detailed necropsies. Tissues are banked for archive and contaminant analysis. Live capture-release of bottlenose dolphins allows for collection of important health assessment data including morphometric measurements, blood cell and chemistry analysis (CBC + differential, a full blood panel, thyroid panel, morbillivirus, steroid panel, vitamin A), urinalysis, and fecal analysis. Also, blubber, blood, and milk are collected for contaminant analysis to determine the role contaminants play in the health of the individual. In vitro studies on dolphin cell lines are used to determine responses of biomarkers to chemical contaminants.
My experience as a graduate student was at the Institute of Wildlife and Environmental Toxicology (TIWET) at Clemson University working under Drs. Mike Hooper and Ed Pivorun in an inter-disciplinary and unique approach that prepared me for my present position at NOAA. When I first came to the program, I was a research assistant for Mike Hooper's student, Dale Hoff, who was performing a risk assessment on badgers, Taxidea taxus, inhabiting the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, a Superfund site heavily contaminated with dieldrin. In order to define potential exposure of badgers to dieldrin, we defined home ranges for individual animals. Here, I gained radiotelemetry experience that is now helping me track bottlenose dolphins. From this research with Dale Hoff, my thesis evolved – "Dieldrin Effects on the Biochemistry and Control of Cold Adaptation in the Deer Mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus". With the help of Ed Pivorun and Mike Hooper, I learned innovative laboratory techniques (biomarker approaches and physiologic techniques) to study the effects of dieldrin on brain chemistry and adaptation physiology (i.e. torpor). My experience gained in non-lethal biomarker approaches learned at TIWET is now helping to define my in vitro studies on dolphin cell lines as a method to determine the effect of chemical contaminants on the health of marine mammals.
My personal research interests center around the recent findings of scientists conducting a thirty-year study in Sarasota Bay, Florida - that first-born bottlenose dolphin calves rarely survive. The mechanism for this high mortality is unknown and could involve organochlorine contaminant transfer from the mother to the calf. Marine mammals, particularly odontocetes, have the highest organochlorine burden of any wildlife species worldwide. A large percentage of this contaminant burden is transferred directly to the first born neonate during lactation with up to 80% of the maternal organochlorine burden transferred to the first born calf. Normally in an adult, the blood-brain barrier acts to effectively block contaminants from entering the brain. However, in the immature brain of newly born mammals, the blood-brain barrier is not well developed. Organochlorine contaminants have the potential to pass through the blood-brain barrier and exert a toxic effect. Dieldrin, chlordanes, toxaphene, endosulfan, and polychlorinated biphenyls, all of which have been found in bottlenose dolphin blubber, are neurotoxic to the central nervous system. I hypothesize that contaminants pass through the undeveloped blood-brain barrier in cetacean neonates and cause toxicity, thereby explaining the high mortality observed in first-born bottlenose dolphin calves in Sarasota Bay. The hypothesis consists of three objectives. The first objective is to define, quantify, and model contaminant exposure of first-born neonates in bottlenose dolphins as well as other odontocete neonates. The second objective is to determine neurotoxic effects in odontocete neonate brains. The last objective is to construct a risk assessment model to evaluate contaminant-induced neurotoxic risk on neonates.
