Dr Paul D Jepson

Curriculum Vitae:

• 2003: PhD,Royal Veterinary College (University of London)
• 1991: BVMS, University of Glasgow Veterinary School.
• 1991: Member, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

After two years in clinical veterinary practice I joined the Institute of Zoology in 1993 as the co-ordinator of the Cetacean Strandings Project within England and Wales. Since 2000 I have been the Project Co-ordinator of the Defra-funded UK Cetacean Strandings Project (UKCSP). The UKCSP, initiated in 1990, is a long-term national research programme using systematic and standardised methodologies to investigate the causes of morbidity and mortality in UK cetacean species. Marine turtles have also been added to this remit. The research contributes to the UK Government’s commitment to a number of international conservation agreements.
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Research Interests:

The long-term nature of research on UK-stranded cetaceans enables specific causes of disease and mortality to be identified and permits the evaluation of spatial and temporal trends in indices such as causes of mortality and how they may be influenced by environmental factors such as exposure to chemical contaminants. The UKCSP is also responsible for maintaining a national archive of marine mammal tissues facilitating a broad range of parallel and interdisciplinary research activity.

My specific areas of research interest involve the pathological investigation of causes of morbidity and mortality in marine mammals (both cetaceans and pinnipeds), with particular emphasis on the potential relationships between their health status and their exposure to environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals. My doctoral thesis specifically investigated the potential relationships between contaminant exposure and health status in UK-stranded harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). I also participated in a (WWF-UK-funded) project with colleagues at the Institute of Zoology investigating potential relationships between "endocrine-disrupting" chemicals and indices of testicular development in harbour porpoises using (immuno-)histological methods.

More recently, my colleagues and I have identified a novel disease in a small number of UK-stranded cetaceans involving the in vivo production of gas bubbles and gas and fat emboli associated with acute and chronic tissue injury. In 2002, a separate investigation into a mass stranding of beaked whales in the Canary Islands that occurred during a naval exercise using active sonar, that was led by Professor Antonio Fernandez (University de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), found gas and fat emboli in ten stranded beaked whales associated with a suite of acute tissue injuries similar to decompression sickness in human divers. These new UK and Spanish findings provided the first evidence of a decompression sickness-like disease in marine mammals. The proximity of this and several earlier beaked whale mass strandings in the Canary Islands to naval exercise using active sonar suggest that acoustic exposure may be a causal or precipitating factor in the pathogenesis of this gas embolic condition.

Although the bulk of my research is cetacean-focussed, I formed part of an international team of scientists investigating a mass mortality of Caspian seals (Phoca caspica) in 2000 caused by canine distemper virus (CDV). I also co-ordinated a 12-month Defra-funded research investigation into the impact of the 2002 phocine distemper virus (PDV) epizootic on UK seal populations, in collaboration with the Sea Mammal Research Unit, SAC Inverness and the Natural History Museum.
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Publications:

Wang, Z., Yuan, L.H., Rossiter, S.J., Zuo, X.G., Ru, B.H., Zhong, H., Han, N.J., Jones, G., Jepson, P.D. and Zhang, S.Y. (2009) Adaptive evolution of 5'HoxD genes in the origin and diversification of the cetacean flipper. Molecular Biology and Evolution 26(3): 613-622. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msn282

Law, R.J., Bersuder, P., Mead, L.K. and Jepson, P.D. (2008) PFOS and PFOA in the livers of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranded or by-caught around the UK. Marine Pollution Bulletin 56: 792-797. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.01.001

Yang, W-C., Chou, L-S., Jepson, P.D., Brownell, R.L. Jr., Cowan, D., Chang, P-H., Chiou, H-I., Yao, C-J., Yamada, T.K., Chiu, J-T., Chin, S-C., Wang, P-J. and Fernández, A. (2008) Unusual cetacean mortality event in Taiwan: caused by naval activities? Veterinary Record 162(6): 184-186.

Jepson, P.D. (editor) Cetacean Strandings Investigation and Co-ordination in the UK 2000-2004. Final report to the Department for Food and Rural Affairs. pp 1-79. http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/resprog/findings/index.htm.

MacLeod, R., MacLeod, C.D., Learmonth, J.A., Jepson, P.D., Reid, R.J., Deaville, R. and Pierce, G.J. (2007) Mass-dependent predation risk and lethal dolphin-porpoise interactions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0786

Barnett, J., Jepson, P.D. and Lawson, B. (2006) Letter - Save the whale? Veterinary Record 158(7): 247-248.

Bull, J.C., Jepson, P.D., Ssuna, R.K., Deaville, R. & Fenton, A. (2006) The relationship between polychlorinated biphenyls in blubber and levels of nematode infestations in harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena. Parasitology doi:10.1017/S003118200500942X

Cox, T.M., T.J. Ragen, A.J. Read, E. Vos, R.W. Baird, K. Balcomb, J. Barlow, J. Caldwell, T. Cranford, L. Crum, A. D’Amico, G. D’Spain, A. Fernández, J. Finneran, R. Gentry, W. Gerth, F. Gulland, J. Hildebrand, D. Houser, T. Hullar, P.D. Jepson, D. Ketten, C.D. MacLeod, P. Miller, S. Moore, D. Mountain, D. Palka, P. Ponganis, S. Rommel, T. Rowles, B. Taylor, P. Tyack, D. Wartzok, R. Gisiner, J. Mead, L. Benner. (2006) Understanding the Impacts of Anthropogenic Sound on Beaked Whales. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 7: 177-187.

Hall, A.J., Hugunin, K., Deaville, R., Law, R.J., Allchin, C.R., Jepson, P.D. (2006) The risk of infection from polychlorinated biphenyl exposure in harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) – A case-control approach. Environmental Health Perspectives 114: 704-711.

Hall, A.J., Jepson, P.D., Goodman, S.J. and Härkönen, T. (2006) Phocine Distemper Virus – Data and models, nature and nurture. Biological Conservation 131: 221 –229.

Härkönen, T., Dietz, R., Reijnders, P., Teilmann, J., Thompson, P., Harding, K., Hall, A., Brasseur, S., Siebert, U., Goodman, S., Jepson, P.D. and Dau Rasmussen , T. (2006) Review of the seal epizootics in Europe. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 68: 115-130.

Kuiken, T., Kennedy, S., Barrett, T., van de Bildt, M.W.G., Borgsteede, F.H., Brew, S.D., Codd, G.A., Duck, C., Deaville, R., Eybatov, T., Forsyth, M.A., Foster, G., Jepson, P.D., Kydyrmanov, A., Mitrofanov, I., Ward, C.J., Wilson, S., and Osterhaus, A.D.M.E. (2006) The 2000 canine distemper epidemic in Caspian seals (Phoca caspica): Pathology and analysis of contributory factors. Veterinary Pathology 43: 321–338.

Rommel, S.A., Costidis, A.M., Fernandez, A., Jepson, P.D., Pabst, A., McLellan, W., Houser, D.S., Cranford, T., van Helden, A., Allen, D. and Barrows, N. (2006) Elements of Beaked Whale Anatomy and Diving Physiology, and Some Hypothetical Causes of Sonar-related Stranding. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 7: 189-209.

Jepson, P.D., Deaville, R., Patterson, I.A.R., Pocknell, Ross, H.M., Baker, J.R., Howie, F.E., Reid, R.J., Colloff, A. and Cunningham, A.A. (2005) Acute and chronic gas bubble lesions in cetaceans stranded in the United Kingdom. Veterinary Pathology 42: 291-305.

Jepson, P.D., Bennett, P.M., Deaville, R., Allchin, C.R., Baker J.R. & Law, R.J. (2005) Relationships between PCBs and health status in UK-stranded harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 24: 238–248.

Fernandez, A., Arbelo, M., Deaville, R., Patterson, I.A.P., Castro, P., Baker, J.R., Degollada, E., Ross, H.M., Herráez, P., Pocknell, A.M., Rodriguez, E., Howie, F.E., Espinosa, A., Reid, R.J., Jaber, J.R., Martin, V., Cunningham, A.A., and Jepson, P.D. (2004) Whales, sonar and decompression sickness (reply). Nature, doi:10.1038/nature02528

Holt, W.V., Waller, J., Moore, A., Jepson, P.D., Deaville, R. and Bennett, P.M. (2004) Smooth muscle actin and vimentin as markers of testis development in the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Journal of Anatomy 204: 201-211.

Lawson, B. and Jepson, P.D. (compilers) (2004) UK Phocine Distemper Virus Epizootic: Investigation Report 2002/2003. Report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 221pp.

Barrett, T., Sahoo, P. & Jepson, P.D. (2003) Seal distemper outbreak 2002. Microbiology Today 30: 162-164.

Jepson, P.D., Arbelo, M., Deaville, R., Patterson, I.A.R., Castro, P., Baker, J.R., Degollada, E., Ross, H.M., Herráez, P., Pocknell, A.M., Rodriguez, E., Howie, F.E., Espinosa, A., Reid, R.J., Jaber, J.R., Martin, V., Cunningham, A.A., and Fernandez, A. (2003) Gas-bubble lesions in stranded cetaceans. Nature 425: 575-576.

Bennett, P.M., Jepson, P.D., Law, R.J., Jones, B.R., Kuiken, T., Baker, J.R., Rogan, E. & Kirkwood, J.K. (2001) Exposure to heavy metals and infectious disease mortality in harbour porpoises from England and Wales. Environmental Pollution 112: 33-40.

Van Bressem, M.F., Van Waerebeek, K., Jepson, P.D., Raga, J.A., Duignan, P.J., Nielsen, O., Di Beneditto, A.P., Siciliano, S., Ramos, R., Kant, W., Peddermors, V., Kinoshita, R., Ross, P.S., López-Fernandez, Evans, K., Crespo, E. & Barrett, T. (2001) An insight into dolphin morbillivirus worldwide. Veterinary Microbiology 81: 287-304.

Jepson, P.D., Baker, J.R., Kuiken, T., Simpson, V.R., Kennedy, S. & Bennett, P.M. (2000) Pulmonary pathology of harbour porpoises stranded in England and Wales between 1990 and 1996. Veterinary Record 146: 721-728.

Kennedy, S., Kuiken, T., Jepson, P.D., Deaville, R., Forsyth, M., Barrett, T., van de Bildt, M.W.G., Osterhaus, A.D.M.E., Eybatov, T., Duck, C., Kydyrmanov, A. Mitrofanov, Igor and Wilson, S. (2000) Mass die-off of Caspian seals caused by canine distemper virus. Emerging Infectious Diseases 6: 637-639.

Jepson, P.D., Bennett, P.M., Allchin, C.R., Law, R.J., Kuiken, T., Baker, J.R., Rogan, E., & Kirkwood, J.K. (1999) Investigating potential associations between chronic exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and infectious disease mortality in harbour porpoises from England and Wales. The Science of the Total Environment 243/244: 339-348.

Karakosta, C.V., Jepson, P.D., Ohira, H., Moore, A., Bennett, P.M. and Holt, W.V. (1999) Testicular and ovarian development in the harbour porpoise (phocoena phocoena). Journal of the Zoological Society of London 111: 111-121.

Baker, J.R., Jepson, P.D., Simpson, V.R. & Kuiken, T. (1998) Pathology of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) found dead on the coasts of England, Wales and the Isle of Man. Veterinary Record 142: 595-601.

Gibson, D., Harris, E.A., Bray, R.A., Jepson, P.D., Kuiken, T., Baker, J.R. and Simpson, V.R. (1998) A survey of the helminth parasites of cetaceans stranded on the coast of England and Wales during the period 1990-1994. Journal of the Zoological Society of London 244: 563-574.

Jepson, P.D. & Baker, J.R. (1998) Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) as a possible cause of acute traumatic injuries in porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). Veterinary Record 143: 614-615.

Van Bressem, M.F., Jepson, P.D. & Barrett, T. (1998) Further insight on the epidemiology of cetacean morbillivirus in the northeastern Atlantic. Marine Mammal Science 14(3): 605-613.

Jepson, P.D., Brew, S., Macmillan, A.P., Baker, J.R., Barnett, J., Kirkwood, J.K., Kuiken, T., Robinson, I.R. & Simpson, V.R. (1997) Antibodies to Brucella in marine mammals around the coast of England and Wales. Veterinary Record 141: 513-515.

Kirkwood, J.K, Bennett, P.M., Jepson, P.D., Kuiken, T., Simpson, V.R. & Baker, J.R. (1997) Entanglement in fishing gear and other causes of death in cetaceans stranded on the coasts of England and Wales. Veterinary Record 141: 94-98.

Law, R.J., Allchin, C.R., Jones, B.R., Jepson, P.D., Baker, J.R. & Spurrier, C.J.H. (1997) Metals and organochlorines in tissues of a Blainville`s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) and a killer whale (Orcinus orca) stranded in the United Kingdom. Marine Pollution Bulletin 34: 208-212.

Rogan, E., Baker, J.R., Jepson, P.D., Berrow, S. & Kiely, O. (1997) A mass stranding of white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) in Ireland: biological and pathological studies. Journal of the Zoological Society of London 242: 217-227.
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Collaborators & Links:

• Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD.
• Wildlife Unit, SAC Veterinary Science Division (Inverness), Drummondhill, Stratherrick Road, Inverness, IV2 4JZ.
• CEFAS Burnham Laboratory, Remembrance Ave, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, CM0 8HA.
• Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Liverpool, 'Leahurst', Chester High Road, Neston, South Wirral, CH64 7TE.
• Sea Mammal Research Unit, Gatty Marine Laboratory, St Andrews University, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB.
• Department of Veterinary Pathology, University de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Spain.