Scientific Secretary
Jill Prewitt
Tel: +47 77687373
jill.prewitt@nammco.no
Jill Prewitt is American and is originally from New Hampshire. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Maryland College Park in 2003 and Master of Science at the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2008.
Before joining NAMMCO, she was employed as a Research Associate with the Pinniped Program at the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward, Alaska, from 2007-2013. She worked both in the field and in the laboratory on a variety of research projects including reproductive physiology in Steller sea lions, responses to disturbance in Pacific walrus, behaviour and habitat use of Cook Inlet beluga whales, and population surveys of harbour seals in glacial fjords.
While in graduate school from 2004-2008, she worked as part of a collaborative project on harbour seals between the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The focus of her graduate research was on the physiology of harbour seal skeletal muscle, including the development of muscle physiology in pups and the effects of season and body condition on the muscle physiology of adults.
Prior to graduate school, Jill worked as a veterinary technician at an emergency animal hospital in Seattle, a Field Research Assistant for a New Zealand fur seal project on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, and Animal Trainer at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.
Jill moved to Tromsø with her dog, Keyush, and cat, Mim. She enjoys spending time outside with her dog, mainly hiking and cross country skiing, and indoors cooking and reading.
Selected Publications:
Hoover-Miller, A., Bishop, A., Prewitt, J., Conlon, S., Jezierski, C. and Armato, P. (2013), Efficacy of voluntary mitigation in reducing harbor seal disturbance. The Journal of Wildlife Management. doi: 10.1002/jwmg.510.
Hoover-Miller, A., Atkinson, S., Conlon, S., Prewitt, J., and Armato, P. 2011. Persistent decline in abundance of harbor seals Phoca vitulina richardsi over three decades in Aialik Bay, an Alaskan tidewater glacial fjord. Marine Ecology Progress Series, v. 424, pp. 259–27.
Marino, K.B., Hoover-Miller, A., Conlon, S., Prewitt, J., and O’Shea, S. 2011. Quantification of total mercury in liver and heart tissue of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) from Alaska USA. Environmental Research, v.111:8, pp. 1107–1115.
Prewitt, J.S., Freistroffer, D.V., Schreer, J., Hammill, M.O., Burns, J.M. 2010. Postnatal development of muscle biochemistry in nursing harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) pups: Limitations to diving behavior? Journal of Comparative Physiology: B. v.180, n.5, pp.757-766.
