Foreword

Marine mammals, such as pinnipeds, are good indicators of the health status of the oceans. Indeed, their top predator position coupled with a high body lipid content and relatively long life-spans highly expose them to the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their tissues. It results, in the extreme cases, in reproductive failure, decreasing resistance to infections or growth and development disorders.

The study of the physiology of these marine creatures appears thus of particular importance in order to understand how they function and therefore how pollutants may disrupt the mechanisms that maintain them in good health, growth, development and reproductive conditions.

This website presents my different research projects about pinniped physiology and ecotoxicology. I am currently working at the unit of Nutrition biochemistry, University of Louvain (UCL-Belgium) and collaborate with a large scientific network.

Unité de Biochimie de la Nutrition Université catholique de Louvain - UCL Place Croix du Sud 2/8 - B1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) Tel : +32 10 47.37.32 - Fax : +32 10 47.37.28 debier@bnut.ucl.ac.be

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