Both wet and dry egg composition of emu eggs are being determined. We are also interested in the scaling of metabolic rate with egg mass and hatchling mass in pre-pipped embryos and hatchlings. Physiological Ecology of an Invasive Daphnia Daphnia lumholtzi has successfully invaded a number of reservoirs in the United States. With a colleague from UNT and Kansas University, I am investigating the effect of various levels of chronic hypoxia on the physiology and ecology of this species. D. lumholtzi produces large spines, and thus we are also looking at the response of the spines on this species in response to hypoxia and turbulence.
Lizards have two methods by which they can regulate their body temperature.
They can use behavioral or physiological means. Behaviorally, a lizard may bask in a given thermal environment or shuttle between various thermal environments to maintain body temperature within a preferred range. In the past when investigators have examined the physiological control of thermoregulation in lizards they have looked at an animals response to a step change in temperature. The results from these studies were then extrapolated to how a lizard might physiologically control thermoregulation during shuttling. Thus, I was interested in determining under what behavioral conditions the physiological control of warming and cooling may be important for these animals.