My research interests primarily focus on animal physiology, specifically on the variations in physiological traits and adaptive mechanisms that allow animals to survive in changing environments. My students and I prefer to combine physiological, biochemical, behavioural, and ecological data to examine how the energetic metabolism in animals is affected when abiotic or biotic factors in their environments change. At the moment, my work is mainly focused on fish, but I am equally interested in vertebrates in general. My previous research included studying the physiology of locomotion in fish and their response to food availability. Recently, we have been focusing on the widespread phenomenon of hypoxia and its effects on fish fitness. We studied the reproductive fitness of three African fish species: Barbus neumayeri, Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae, and Barbus apleurogramma. My students and I have been investigating the extent to which hypoxia can affect reproductive fitness (gonad size, sperm morphometry, and sperm swimming capacity) across sites with varying dissolved oxygen levels (hypoxia vs. normoxia).
Over the last couple of years, my students and I have focused our attention on fish that use electric signals and investigate their physiological responses to environmental change. In collaboration with Dr. Luis Fernando DeLeón, University of Boston at Massachusetts, we are studying whether trade-offs exist between life history traits and reproductive fitness in the electric fish Brachyhypopomus occidentalis from Panama. This amazing fish uses electric pulses produced by a specialized type of muscle for intra and inter specific communication; however, little its known about the cost of electric signal communication and reprodution. In collaboration with Dr. Gillian Renshaw, Griffith University in Australia, we are studying the potential effects of global warming on the embryological development of two species of sharks: the Eppaulette Shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) and the Grey Carpet Shark (Chiloscyllium punctatum). Although most fish living in reef platforms are capable of avoiding the severe decrease in dissolved oxygen as well as the elevated temperatures during day time low tides, sessile shark embryos enclosed in egg cases are not able to escape these exposures. Recent studies have shown that early developmental stages are highly vulnerable to predation, elevated CO2, temperature changes as well as low dissolved oxygen. However, it not clear yet if the capacity of sharks to adapt to the currently rapid anthropomorphic environmental changes is compromised during early stages of development. Hence, we aim to further our understanding of the impact that global warming could pose for the survival and development of shark embryos within their egg cases.
