Linking nutritional biochemistry and trophic ecology to health of adult female California sea lions in the Gulf of California.

ABSTRACT: Our planet is experiencing sudden and unpredictable changes that affect most land and marine environments. We investigated blood analytes relevant to nutritional biochemistry and isotopic signatures of adult female California sea lions (CSL) from the Gulf of California, an area that has suffered changes in sea surface temperature in the past decades. During the 2016 and 2020 breeding seasons we collected fur, plasma and serum samples from apparently healthy adult female CSL (2016, n = 43; 2020, n = 12). We determined packed cell volume (PCV) and quantified 11 blood analytes directly or indirectly related to nutrition (albumin, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, total protein, globulin, creatinine, ferritin, iron, zinc and bilirubin). We also determined carbon and nitrogen isotopic signat

SUBMITTER: Montesinos-Laffont AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12362241 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature