Roxanne Beltran

  

Current Appointment
2018-2020 Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of California Santa Cruz
Supervisor: Dr. Daniel Costa
Education
2018 PhD, University of Alaska Fairbanks (Biology & Wildlife)
Bridging the gap between pupping and molt phenology: behavioral and ecological drivers in Weddell
seals.

2015 MSc, University of Alaska Anchorage (Biological Sciences)

An agent-based model for predicting impacts of environmental change on Weddell seals.

2013 BSc, University of California Santa Cruz (Marine Biology, Honors)

Fine-scale calibration of pinniped whisker growth using photogrammetry and stable isotopes.

Awards
2017 Best Young Researcher in Ecological Modeling
2017 National Geographic Young Explorer
2017 Best Student Talk, Biologging Symposium, Germany
2015 Best Student Talk, Society for Marine Mammalogy, USA
2013 Best Student Talk, Society for Marine Mammalogy, New Zealand

Publications (PDFs available on website)

14. IN REVIEW. RS Beltran, GA Breed, T Adachi, A Takahashi, Y Naito, PW Robinson, WO Smith Jr., AM
Kilpatrick, AL Kirkham, JM Burns. Sea ice dynamics vertically redistribute Antarctic food web.
(Submitted to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
13. IN REVIEW. RS Beltran, AL Kirkham, GA Breed, JW Testa, JM Burns. Reproductive success influences
molt phenology in Weddell seals. (Submitted to Functional Ecology).
12. IN REVIEW. G Frankfurter, RS Beltran, M Hoard, JM Burns. Rapid prototyping and 3D printing of
Antarctic seal flipper tags. (Submitted to The Wildlife Society Bulletin).
11. [2018] RS Beltran, JM Burns, GA Breed. Review: Convergence of biannual moulting strategies across
birds and mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 20180318.
10. [2018] Z Smeele, JM Burns, K Van Doorsaler, S Kraberger, RS Fontenele, K Waits, D Stainton, MR Shero,
RS Beltran, AL Kirkham, G Frankfurter, R Berngartt, P Lefeurve, A Varsani. Diverse papillomaviruses
identified in Weddell seals. General Virology.
9. [2018] RS Beltran, B Ruscher-Hill (undergrad), AL Kirkham, JM Burns. An evaluation of three-
dimensional photogrammetric and morphometric techniques for estimating volume and mass in
Weddell seals. PLOS ONE.
8. [2017] E Fahsbender, JM Burns, S Kim, S Kraberger, G Frankfurter, A Eilers, MR Shero, RS Beltran, AL
Kirkham, R McCorkell, R Berngartt, M Male, K Rosario, G Ballard, DG Ainley, M Breitbart, A Varsani.
Diverse and highly recombinant alleloviruses associated with Weddell seals in Antarctica. Journal of
Virus Evolution. 3,1-11.
7. [2017] RS Beltran, JW Testa, JM Burns. An agent-based model for predicting impacts of environmental
change on a top marine predator, the Weddell seal. Ecological Modelling. 351,36-50.
6. [2016] N Lubcker, R Condit, RS Beltran, PJN de Bruyn, MN Bester. Vibrissal growth parameters of
southern elephant seals: obtaining fine-scale, time-based stable isotope data. Marine Ecology Progress
Series. 559,243-255.
5. [2016] RS Beltran, SH Peterson, EA McHuron, C Reichmuth, LA Huckstadt, DP Costa. Pinnipeds are
what they eat, plus what? Determination of trophic discrimination factors in six seal species. Rapid
Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 30, 1115–1122.
4. [2015] L Schwarz, S Villegas-Amtmann, RS Beltran, DP Costa, C Goetsch, LA Huckstadt, J Maresh, SH
Peterson. Comparisons and uncertainty in fat and adipose tissue estimation techniques: The Northern
Elephant Seal as a Case Study. PLOS ONE.
3. [2015] RS Beltran, MS Connolly, SH Peterson, R Condit, C Reichmuth, DP Costa. Whisker growth
dynamics: a validated approach for assigning timescales to stable isotope analyses. Marine Ecology
Progress Series. 523, 233-241.
2. [2014] M Connolly, RS Beltran and C Reichmuth. A calibration procedure for measuring pinniped
vibrissae using photogrammetry. Aquatic Mammals. 40(2), 213-218.
1. [2014] RS Beltran, N Kreidler* (undergrad), D Van Vuren, S Morrison, E Zavaleta, K Newton, B Tershy D
Croll. Passive recovery of vegetation from herbivore eradication on Santa Cruz Island, California.
Restoration Ecology. 22(6), 790-797. Cover photo.

Children’s Book
RS Beltran and PW Robinson. A Seal Named Patches, Snowy Owl Press, ISBN 1602233314.
2017 DeBary Children’s Science Book Award
School Library Journal Star for Children’s Book

Fellowships & Grants (total: $417,000)

FELLOWSHIPS
$138,000 2018-2020 NSF Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Biology
$138,000 2015-2018 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
$35,000 2014-2015 NIH IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence Fellowship
GRANTS
$29,794 National Geographic Changing Planet $1,000 Nicholas F. Hughes Memorial
$25,000 National Geographic Wildlife $1,000 PADI Foundation, Marine Mammals
$8,000 LGL Graduate Student Research $1,000 PADI Foundation, Outreach & Education
$7,560 National Geographic Waitt $1,000 Women Divers Hall of Fame
$5,769 Alaska INBRE $700 LGL Graduate Student Research
$5,000 NSF Graduate Research Internship Program $700 UC Santa Cruz EEB Department
$4,500 National Geographic Young Explorers $700 Society for Marine Mammalogy
$3,000 Kenneth and Ann Thimann $600 College of Natural Science & Math
$2,000 American Cetacean Society Baldridge Award $500 Myers Oceanographic Trust
$1,500 SCAR AnT-ERA $500 Friends of Long Marine Lab
$1,200 Erich Follmann Memorial Award $500 SCAR State of the Antarctic Ecosystem
$1,200 Biomedical Learning and Student Training $500 Stevenson College
$1,100 Society for Marine Mammalogy $500 UCSC Department of Student Affairs
$1,100 Society for Ecological Modeling $200 UC Natural Reserve System

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 Undergraduate Mentees
Diana Alvarado (2018, Packard Fellow), Sandra Evangelista (2018), Shannon Bent (2017), Kaitlyn Martinez
(2016), Kelly Shrader (2016), Jeanette Pirlo (2016), Nadja DiMartino (2016), Clara Woolner (2015, NSF
REU), Brandi Ruscher-Hill (2015)

Teaching
Lecturer BIOE108; Marine Ecology UC Santa Cruz
Lecturer BIOL179; Oceanography Laboratory U Alaska
Teaching Assistant BIOE128L; Field Methods in Large Marine Vertebrates UC Santa Cruz
Learning Assistant BIOE20B; Development & Physiology of Organisms UC Santa Cruz
Guest Lectures U Alaska BIOLA490 Antarctic Ecology. UC Santa Cruz BIOE128L Field Methods in
Large Marine Vertebrates (4x). U Alaska BIOLA170 Oceanography.

Invited Presentations
2017 National Institute of Polar Research (Japan)
Antarctica, as viewed by instrumented seals
2017 Seymour Center Science Sunday (USA)
What Weddell seals taught us about life at the bottom of the world
2017 International Society for Ecological Modeling (South Korea)
Individual-based modeling of a top polar predator
2016 Harvard College PRISE Distinguished Speaker (USA)
Predicting impacts of climate change on polar marine mammals
2016 International Statistical Ecology Conference (USA)
A simulation model for quantifying the resilience of a polar predator

Contributed Presentations
2018 POLAR SCAR/Arctic Summit Conference (Switzerland)
Molt phenology mediates colony attendance in Weddell seals
2017 Biologging Symposium (Germany)
Reconstructing the year-round foraging behavior of Weddell seals
2017 Society for Marine Mammalogy Conference (Canada)
Weddell seal dives suggest a vertical ecosystem shift concurrent with seasonal phytoplankton blooms
2017 SCAR Biology Conference (Belgium)
Reproductive effort affects the annual dive behavior of adult, female Weddell seals
2016 Biomedical Research Conference (USA)
Ecophysiology in a top polar predator
2015 Society for Marine Mammalogy (USA)
Agent-based models predict responses of top predators to environmental change
2015 Animal Behavior Conference (USA)
Diving deeper into the over-summer foraging behavior of a top polar predator
2015 Ecological Society of America (USA)
An agent-based model for predicting resilience to global change
2014 Biologging Symposium (France)
Using simple biologging metrics to inform dynamic bioenergetics models

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2014 SCAR Open Science Conference (New Zealand)
A generalized bioenergetic model for pinnipeds
2013 Society for Marine Mammalogy Conference
Whisker growth dynamics: a validated approach for assigning timescales to stable isotope analyses
2013 UCSC EEB Department Symposium (USA)
Use of photogrammetry and stable isotope analysis to calibrate pinniped whisker length estimations
2013 UCSC Undergraduate Research Symposium (USA)
Body size impacts on hierarchical dominance in male northern elephant seals
2013 Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Symposium (USA)
A calibration procedure for pinniped whisker length estimation using photogrammetry
2012 Seymour Center Continuing Education Workshop (USA)
Everything you always wanted to know about sex in the sea

Science Communication
Training National Geographic Science-telling Bootcamp (5 days)
Alan Alda Workshop for Communicating Science (3 days)
Seymour Center Docent Training (11 days)
K-12 Co-Founder of Alaska K-12 Classroom Visits (4,000 students)
Co-Founder of California K-12 Classroom Visits (225 students)
Ambassador for “Kids2College” (100 students)
Visitor for “Skype a Scientist” (50 students)
Visitor for “WhaleTimes” Skype visit (30 students)
Participant in “Letters to a Pre-Scientist” for underprivileged students (3 students)
Mentor for “Scientists in the Classroom” (2 students)
Public Live PolarTREC Webinar from Antarctica (4,000 viewers)
University of Alaska STEM Expo (1,000 visitors)
“Sealebration” Año Nuevo State Park Outreach Event (600 visitors)
Animal Behavior Society Outreach Fair (200 visitors)
Presentation at Alaska Department of Fish and Game (100 people)
Presentation at Opportunities for Lifelong Education Alaska (75 people)
Contributor to PolarTREC Lessons, Journals, and Blog
Contributor to National Geographic Open Explorer Blog

Media
Video BBC film “Supergiant Animals”; KTVF 11 Fairbanks TV
Radio Wild Lens “Eyes On Conservation” Podcast; KFBX AM 970; KIAK 102.5FM
Print Interior Alaska News Miner (2x); UCSC News Center; UC Natural Reserve System News

Service
Grant Reviewer National Geographic Explorer Advisory Panel, National Geographic Grants Program,
North Pacific Research Board
Journal Reviewer Nature Scientific Reports, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Deep Sea Research Pt II,
Endangered Species Research, Mammalian Biology, Marine Mammal Science, Rapid
Communications in Mass Spectrometry
Leadership Association of Polar Early Career Scientists Council (3 years)