Science Director at the Alaska SeaLife Center and Research Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
WHAT SHE STUDIES:
- Breeding ecology
- Toxicology
- Avian physiology
EDUCATION:
D.V.M. and Ph.D. in Physiological Ecology from the University of Helsinki, Finland
HOMETOWN:
Helsinki, Finland
"YOU GET TO A POINT...where you can say it is over 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years...well it’s over a quarter century now. I have been working with marine birds for over a quarter century."
"I THINK THE WORLD...will be a different place if we lose this unique species that isn’t necessarily similar to any other species."
Dr. Tuula Hollmen explains her interest in science and in Steller's eiders. (1:00)
I think as long as I remember I have always been interested in the natural environment and that just developed into an interest in science. I was the kid who was collecting mussels and counting things from as long as I remember and I don’t remember a time when I haven’t been interested in science. I think it was just the career that was always there for me.
If you see a Steller’s eider in a picture or in the wild even better they’re really beautiful, they’re really a beautiful bird and it really is a cool duck. It is oftentimes just a big challenge to work with because it is so unique. We’re learning new things and we’re learning that things that apply to some other waterfowl species don’t necessarily apply to Steller’s eiders because they have their own ways of doing things, their own biology, ecology and I would say to some degree physiology as well. So they are really a unique species and sometimes they cause some head scratching and probably caused a few of my gray hairs just thinking about how to deal with some of these challenges but it also makes them really interesting to study. I think that everything that I am learning about the species just makes me more convinced that they are a unique species.
