Research

Ecological Physiology

Ecological physiologists identify the physiological adaptations of organisms and organ systems, investigate the molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms underlying these adaptations, and determine how these adaptations affect growth, reproduction, movement, survival and other basic biological characteristics of organisms and their ecological role in communities. Areas of interest to EEMB faculty include algal physiology, plant and animal physiology, function of natural products and toxins, hormone regulation, energetics of locomotion, thermal adaptation, and responses to environmental stress.

Faculty Research

David J. Chapman, Ph.D., D.Sc. UC San Diego. Biochemistry, physiology and general biology of macroalgae and phytoplankton; biosynthesis and function of algal natural products; evolution of biochemical systems.

James J. Childress, Ph.D. Stanford. Ecological physiology of invertebrates and fishes; biological oceanography; physiology of deep-sea animals; metabolic adaptations of hydrothermal vent animals; chemoautotrophic endosymbioses.

Peter M. Collins, Ph.D. University of London. Endocrinology; hormone regulation of reproduction in vertebrates.

Gretchen Hofmann, Ph.D. University of Colorado, Boulder. Ecological physiology of marine organisms; environmental regulation of gene expression in fish and invertebrates; understanding organismal response to changing thermal environments by integrating ecology, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology.

Robert S. Jacobs, Ph.D. Loyola University. Cellular and molecular mechanism of action of marine natural products and toxins.

Barbara B. Prézelin, Ph.D. Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Primary productivity of phytoplankton in marine environments; biooptical modeling; molecular, cellular, and environmental regulation of marine photosynthesis.

Raul K. Suarez, Ph.D. University of British Columbia. Comparative biochemistry and physiology; energetics of animal locomotion; evolutionary design of functional capacities; ecological physiology.