Physiological Adaptations of Animals

Syllabus

• Fall 2008
• Fall 2007

Course Readings

September 3rd

• The stress response in fish
• Stress in fishes
• Stress in stranded odontocetes
• Metamorphic competence
• Effects of fishing on life history

September 10th

• Hsp70 in Ostrea edulis
• HSP responses in bay and sea scallops
• Up-regulation of HSPs in larvae of polar insects
• UV-tolerance and stress responses in two amphipods
• The evolutionary and ecological role of HSPs
• Thermal resistance, development and HSPs in Artemia

September 17th

• Dessication in Artemia
• A year in the life of a herd of springbok
• Ethnic differences in thermoregulation
• Thermal stress on intertidal limpets
• Plasticity of muscle function in crocodiles
• Responses to temperature and dessication

September 24th

• Supercool or dehydrate?
• Mitochondrial oxyconformity and cold adaptation
• Scaling of metabolic rate with body mass and temperature
• Temperature and hemocyanin oxygen binding
• Climate change and temperature-dependent biogeography
• Water Homeostasis in Larks

October 1st

• Hypoxia tolerance and endurance performance
• Protein expression patterns in zebrafish skeletal muscle
• HIF-1: mediator of responses to hypoxia
• Oxidative stress response of European flounder
• Regulation of hypoxic death in C. elegans
• Linking molecular physiology to ecological realities

October 8th

• Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins
• Caloric restriction and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species
• Water-deprived Awassi ewes and vitamin C
• The renin-angiotensin system of silver sea bream
• Branchial Osmoregulation
• Salinity changes in haemolymph osmolality in mud crabs

October 15

• Thermal and osmotic stress in sea cucumbers
• Osmoregulation and development in the marine little skate
• Osmoregulation in marine mammals
• Salinity, osmoregulation and growth in flounder
• Osmoregulation in marine teleost fish

October 22nd

• Feeding and osmoregulation in marine teleosts
• Osmoregulation and physiological plasticity in crabs
• Membrane changes during hibernation
• Seasonal changes in photoentrained woodchucks
• Regulating fuel selection in a hibernating mammal

October 29th

• Energy availability in mammalian hibernation
• A cost-benefit approach to energy availability in hibernation
• Mitochondrial proton leak and substrate oxidation
• Maintaining muscle mass during extended disuse
• Loss of circadian organization of sleep and wakefulness
• Does immune challenge affect torpor duration?

November 5th

• Fungal disease resistance in sea fan coral
• Chemical resistance of sea fan coral to fungal disease
• Innate immunity with adaptive features
• Coral extinctions from climate change and local impacts
• The coral probiotic hypothesis

November 12th

• Immunological competence of eastern oysters
• Immune defence as a question of evolutionary ecology
• Effects of environmental stressors on manatee immunity
• Methods used to diagnose inflammatory disease in manatees
• Elevated CO2 and thermal tolerance in crabs

November 19th

• CO2 ocean disposal and deep-sea animals
• Long-term hypercapnia and acid-base balance in mussels
• Acid-base regulation and short-term hypercapnia in crabs
• CO2 ocean sequestration and deep-sea animals
• Water pH and total CO2 effects in fish

December 3rd

• Chronically elevated CO2 in a marine sipunculid
• Parkinsonian model of planarian
• Life, death and membrane bilayers
• Marine species as models for telomeres and telomerase
• Mortality and lack of senescence in hydra

Fall 2008 Office Hours: Tuesday, 3-5 pm

Office location: HRI 118

To make an appointment outside of office hours: x3489 or rebekah.thomas@tamucc.edu