Update
Now Archived! PolarConnect event with Bridget Ward and researcher Heather Liwanag studying Weddell Seals from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. This event was broadcast on Monday, 4 November 2019. You can access this and other events on the PolarConnect Archives site
What Are They Doing?
The question is: What does it take for a Weddell seal to survive and successfully make the transition between two extreme environments – above and below the Antarctic sea ice – in only a matter of weeks? To answer this, Cal Poly scientists and a marine mammal veterinarian will venture to Antarctica to study the development of thermoregulation and diving in Weddell seals.
Where Are They?
Latest Journals
Bridget Ward grew up in the small town of Wales, Massachusetts. She has been teaching at Central High School in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts for ten years. Her courses include biology, pre-AP biology, pre-AP biology laboratories, and AP environmental science. Bridget attended Westfield State University and earned both a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Education in Secondary Biology.
Since graduating she has continued seeking out additional educational experiences including traveling to the Galápagos with the University of Arizona to study Marine Biology and to Costa Rica with Texas A&M University as an EarthWatch Fellow learning about the implementation of conservation policies.
While she was growing up, Bridget's parents encouraged learning through exploration by traveling around the world. She continues this exploration by taking advantage of school vacations to visit new locations and uses these experiences to develop new lessons. She believes strongly in teaching geo-literacy in the classroom and engages students in curricula by addressing how what they are learning is applicable in life beyond the classroom.
Dr. Heather Liwanag is a comparative physiologist at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is interested in the physiological adaptations of animals to their environment, and the evolutionary processes involved in those adaptations. Much of her research has focused on thermoregulation (the regulation of body temperature) and energetics (metabolic rates) in vertebrate animals, including seals, sea lions, and even lizards. Her current project is studying the development of thermoregulation and diving in Weddell seal pups in Antarctica.
