Understanding What Limits Fish Cardiovascular Performance and Environmental Responses

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The cardiorespiratory system (gills, heart, blood, blood vessels) is critical to survival because it ensures adequate oxygen and nutrient delivery to the tissues, and removes metabolic wastes. My research program uses an integrative (molecular to whole animal) approach to look at how oxygen consumption (e.g. metabolism and metabolic capacity), heart function, blood vessel function/physiology and stress (catecholamine and cortisol levels, receptor types / levels) differ between fish species and how this allows them to survive under challenging conditions. While I have made tremendous progress in understanding the plasticity of fish cardiac function and its relationship to performance / survival, this research has left many important questions unanswered and generated several new hypotheses. I address a number of these in this grant application.