Episode Eight– (Emily Sperou) Chasing an Apex Predator: Leopard Seals and Antarctic Survival

Dr. Emily Sperou is an ecobiologist and researcher who spent her doctoral studies and the first years of her postdoctoral career studying one of the world’s most elusive apex predators: the leopard seal. She and her colleagues take arduous boat trips through Antarctica, searching for rare animals and studying their diets, reproduction, and their survival amid climate change, melting polar ice, and changing sea levels. Sperou’s work helps inform policymakers and teach conservation groups about how to protect leopard seals and what their livelihood and survival means for the vast polar food web beneath them.

Dr. Emily Sperou is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rhode Island in the Comparative Ecophysiology of Animals Lab, where she studies the ecophysiology of marine mammals to understand how they survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Her research aims to answer fundamental questions about their health, adaptive capacity, and ecological roles by integrating multiple lines of evidence.

Currently, Dr. Sperou is leading projects investigating the reproductive biology of leopard seals through field observations, necropsy-based anatomical studies, and analyses of historical museum specimens to assess lifetime reproductive success and variation in reproductive strategies. This work is providing unprecedented insight into one of the least studied apex predators in the Southern Ocean and is helping to fill critical gaps in our understanding of how leopard seals may respond to ongoing environmental change. Her goal is to generate data that inform conservation strategies and improve our ability to forecast the future of polar marine ecosystems.

Dr. Sperou was awarded grants from the APS Lewis and Clark Fund in 2022 and 2024. She also joined us as a speaker in our April 2025 Member Meeting.