Our research interests have focused on understanding the underlying physiological processes that contribute to the ecological adaptations of organisms. Our research group has continually strived to approach ecological physiology through basis of comparative studies. My primary fields of research include crustacean and nemertean reproductive ecophysiology and endocrinology. I have secondary interests in herpetological endocrinology and environmental toxicology.
Our research has detected the presence of
heat shock proteins (HSP) in nemerteans from
the marine intertidal and
in the
We have just completed a study on the osmotic induction of stress proteins in nemertean, Paranemertes peregrina. Once again we have detected SP70 and SP90 in both hyperosmotic and hyposmotictreatments.
In the past our research group has investigated the role of hormones in reproductive life history stages for crabs, ribbon worms, and the red backed salamanders. We have detected ecdysteroids, thearthropodan molting hormones, during crustacean embryogenesis. We have also detected these hormones in a non-arthropodan phylum, Nemertea (ribbon worms). We have correlated hormonal titers to the reproductive life history stages of the nemerteans. We quantify ecdysteroids through radioimmunoassay (RIA) and separate and quantify these hormones through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Our research has conclusively identified the presence of the molting hormones in nemerteans through gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis.