DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Behavioral Compensation for Limits to Ecophysiological Plasticity in Dynamic Environments

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In this study researchers will examine the ways in which animals use behavior to compensate for limitations on their ability to adapt physiologically to changes in their environment. Behavior can be used to avoid exposure to stressful environments altogether, or it may be altered to conserve energy in order to deal with stress. This study will examine these behavioral processes, and the corresponding physiological mechanisms, in juvenile sharks living in estuaries. Estuaries, areas where seawater and freshwater mix, are highly dynamic environments that represent gradients of salinity stress for sharks, yet a number of shark species use these habitats as juvenile nursery areas to avoid predation and gain access to food resources. The overall project has three specific goals: 1. to examine the movements of sharks in relation to salinity using modern telemetry techniques, 2. to measure the physiological responses of sharks in the laboratory to salinity changes characteristic of sharks in the wild as well as to more extreme salinity changes, and 3. to use molecular techniques to identify proteins involved in the response to salinity challenge and that serve as markers of excessive salinity stress. It is anticipated that behavior plays a significant role in mitigating the effects of environmental change on sharks, and the researchers will identify markers of limits to physiological compensation that elicit behavioral responses to environmental change. This interdisciplinary approach will be widely applicable to other animals, especially considering expanding anthropogenic influences on the environment and growing awareness of the complex effects of global change. This project will contribute to training of one graduate and several undergraduate students at UC Davis, and results will be disseminated via the PI's web-based proteomics database.