Tracey Rogers is a marine ecologist at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

who studies how mammals survive changing environments.

Early life and education

As a child, Rogers was interested in deadly sea creatures. Rogers became interested in

leopard seal The leopard seal (''Hydrurga leptonyx''), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of Pinniped, seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). Its only natural predator is the orca. It feeds on a wide range of ...

s whilst working as a seal trainer at

Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo is a zoo located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Sydney Harbour. The opening hours are between 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful water view'. ...

. The call of Astrid, a giant female leopard seal, inspired Rogers to pursue a career in research. Rogers completed her PhD, ''"Acoustic behaviour of the leopard seal, Hydrurga leptonyx : physical characteristics and functional significance"'', in 1997 at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

Research and career

Rogers has served as director of the

Australian Marine Mammal Research Centre The Australian Marine Mammal Research Centre or AMMRC was established in 1996 as a co-operative centre of the University of Sydney and the Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales. The centre’s research program includes the impacts of climate ...

. She joined the

in 2008. Her lab at the

study mammals, in particular the

(an Antarctic

apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic le ...

), and their response to changing environments. To do this, she studies changes in the seals' diet and habits over time. She identified that if mother seals stay with their pups, father seals only use simple, crude calls, whereas if mothers are more adventurous, the language becomes more complex. She also found that female

s can also sing during breeding season, which is rare in the animal world. She believes that

s might use the high-frequency (165 kHz) to echolocate food during dark winters. She identified that more juvenile seals stayed together, where as older, more dominant seals have more established territories. She studies seals at the

Commonwealth Bay Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km (30 mi) wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the mai ...

and

Prydz Bay Prydz Bay is a deep embayment of Antarctica between the Lars Christensen Coast and Ingrid Christensen Coast. The Bay is at the downstream end of a giant glacial drainage system that originates in the East Antarctic interior. The Lambert Glacier ...

. The seals are tricky to study as they live in dangerous pack ice off coastal Antarctica, making observations difficult. To identify how the seals respond to a changing ecosystem, Rogers studies them using acoustic technology (

hydrophone A hydrophone ( grc, ὕδωρ + φωνή, , water + sound) is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potent ...

s and retired military sonar buoys). During expeditions, the team take biopsies and collect fur from seals in the wild, which can be used as biomarkers to "capture the changes in an individual's diet, environment, climate, health, and stress levels". These can be compared to seals in museum collections, collected by

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader duri ...

and

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of A ...

, to work out how changes in the ecosystem impact the food chain. By understanding how climate change impacts species in the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and o ...

, they can predict how they will cope with changes in the future. She is now considered the word-expert in leopard seals. She has also studied the composition of whale mucus with the

Sydney Institute of Marine Science Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

Other activities

Rogers contributes to ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and R ...

'', '' National Geographic'', and ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

. She appeared on the BBC radio program ''

The Life Scientific ''The Life Scientific'' is a BBC Radio 4 science programme, presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili , in which each episode is dedicated to the biography and work of one living scientist. The programme consists of an interview between Al-Khalili a ...

'' in September 2017.

Recognition and awards

She was awarded the

Australian Institute of Policy and Science The Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) is an Australian non-partisan and non-profit organisation that aims to further public understanding of the public policy and science in Australia. Founded in 1932 as the Australian Institute of ...

Young Tall Poppy Science Researcher prize in 2005, and became the Tall Poppy ambassador in 2009. The children at Castle Cove Primary School were so inspired by her seal research they wanted to contribute, and raised money for a satellite tracker off the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Rogers named one of the seals they observed Milo, after a school mascot, and the class tracked it in the ocean for 12 months.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Tracey Australian mammalogists Australian climatologists Women climatologists Australian veterinarians Australian ecologists Women ecologists Australian women scientists Living people Women veterinarians University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of the University of New South Wales 20th-century Australian scientists 20th-century women scientists 21st-century Australian scientists 21st-century women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Australian women