Many environmental factors influence cardiovascular and
respiratory activities of crustaceans. The effects of natural
stressors (hypoxia, low salinity, high temperature) have been well
studied, but the effects of pollutants upon these two organ systems
have received less attention. The presence of the pesticide
carbaryl (Sevin, Union Carbide, Inc.) and its...
Schistosomiasis afflicts 200 million people and is responsible for 200,000 deaths per year. The infection is caused by a digenean trematode in the genus Schistosoma. The parasite must cycle through both a vertebrate (human) and invertebrate (snail) host to complete the life cycle. My dissertation focuses on the genetic mechanisms...
In this dissertation I study evolutionary patterns at genes encoding antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in frogs. AMPs are short, amphipathic, cationic, secreted proteins that kill bacteria and other pathogens through a non-catalytic mechanism that involves
binding to and disrupting the microbial cell membrane. In many animal taxa, positive selection is much...
In a comparison of the mammalian and fish immune systems many similarities and differences are found. While most of the differences occur in the acquired or lymphoid arm of immunity, the nonlymphoid immune systems of fish and mammals share many similarities. For instance, both animal groups use phagocytic neutrophils and...
Emerging infectious diseases are increasing globally and are a threat to human, wildlife, and ecosystem health. The emerging fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), or amphibian chytrid fungus, is associated with worldwide amphibian population declines and extinctions. Bd has been found on every continent where amphibians exist and has been documented...
The threespot damselfish, Stegastes planifrons,
maintains individual territories that are clustered on
coral patch reefs. My objective was to understand the
effects of territory clustering on behavior and fitness.
Fish with territories in the center of a cluster had
(relative to edge fish): higher mating success (number of
eggs), higher...
Metabolic rate-temperature responses of three related
species of sea urchins were determined using oxygen consumption
rate measurements. The three species used were Strongylocentrotus
purpuratus, Strongylocentrotus franciscanus, and Allocentrotus
fragilis. All measurements were made using an oxygen
macro-electrode, physiological gas analyzer, and sealed respiratory
container. Two series of experiments--field-acclimatized and
temperature-acclimated--were...
Thais (Nucella) emarginata is a common predatory gastropod of the
rocky intertidal system of western North America. It is usually found at
low tide on top of its sedentary prey, barnacles and mussels. Thais
is also highly polymorphic for shell color, and breeding of isolated
females has shown that the...
A primary goal of population genetics is to identify the role of
microevolutionary forces in producing observed patterns of molecular and phenotypic
variation. I conducted four studies in the northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens, to
determine just how mutation, migration, genetic drift, and selection influenced,
genetic structure of mitochondrial DNA...