- Department
- Email Address
- [email protected]
- Research Areas
- Research Keywords
- Research Description
Our goal is understanding the physiological and behavioural strategies that aquatic animals, primarily fishes, use cope with natural and human-induced environmental change. We are particularly interested in learning the mechanisms that explain why some individuals and species are resilient to environmental change, while others are sensitive.
- Research Summary
Our goal is to understand how aquatic animals integrate the use of behavioural habitat choice and physiological plasticity to respond to common environmental challenges including temperature extremes, hypoxia, and turbidity. We are interested in learning why these processes can interact via both positive and negative feedback. To achieve this goal, we take a comparative approach that investigates both ends of the “environmental tolerance” continuum – species that are highly tolerant of change, and those that are extremely sensitive and endangered. Our current focuses are a) the plasticity of the respiratory system in fishes (but we collaborate to study plasticity of other systems) and b) the habitat requirements of endangered native fishes to inform conservation and future reintroductions.
- Techniques Used
We use techniques that span levels of biological organization from molecular (e.g. transcriptomics, immunohistochemistry) to ecosystem (e.g. microcosms), but our focus is organismal biology. We are particularly interested in studying various aspects of whole-animal performance (e.g. using respirometry, high-speed video, behaviour) and how these are influenced by the environment. This work is conducted both in the laboratory and in the field.
- Locations of international collaborators
Chapman University, University of Alabama, University of West Florida, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA).
- Links
