I am interested in a broad range of biological inquiry. Much of my research is aimed at understanding how different environments can influence the physiological characteristics of the animals inhabiting them. Currently I am undertaking a series of projects that are charged with understanding how animals physiologically cope with the pressures of starvation. Few attempts have been made to document the physiological changes associated starvation and fasting in all but a handful of species. Since all multicellular animals are heterotrophic, starvation related mortality is a potentially ubiquitous fate for each of them. Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about fasting physiology in many groups of animals.

Physiological responses to fasting are well studied in humans, and investigations into animal fasting/starvation generally compare the physiological responses of a given animal to that of humans. While this approach is interesting from a clinical perspective, it neglects the enormous diversity of physiological responses animals have evolved to cope with fasting. Even comparative studies of fasting physiology are generally limited to relatively closely related taxa, which may show minimal or superficial variation, and thus offer little insight into the evolutionary history of ecological adaptation. My research has recently demonstrated that different types of animals employ widely varied strategies for surviving the challenges of food limitation, and my current goal is to understand why animals have evolved so many solutions to a single omnipresent problem.

News articles about my research:

Rattlesnakes Grow While Starving

Starving Diamond-Back Still Grows, Cuts Metabolism 80%