Osmoregulation and respiration in aquatic vertebrates

我的研究领域是环境生理学。水生动物可以生活在氧浓度、盐度、温度和其他化学参数每日或季节性变化的环境中。我的研究重点是这些环境因素如何扰乱生理系统，以及水生动物用来补偿这些扰动的机制。我们特别感兴趣的是了解鱼类如何平衡水和离子水平，处理废物(例如。氨)，并获得足够的氧气以在变化的条件下发挥作用。我们正在研究一种能在水中存活数周的小型红树林鱼。鳃、皮肤和/或肾脏的哪些特殊特征使它们能够平衡体内的水分和离子水平？我们工作的另一个方面涉及鱼类和两栖动物胚胎在早期生命阶段经历的环境变化。邻近的胚胎可能会耗尽水中的氧气水平，并增加影响早期发育过程的代谢废物。胚胎什么时候第一次感觉到环境的这些变化？他们利用什么机制来补偿不太理想的水条件？一些物种(如鲑鱼)对沼泽水特别敏感(例如。高氨)，而其他物种(如金鱼)具有高度的耐受性。我们将测试成年鱼对氨的耐受性是否与调节氨吸收的蛋白质和/或解毒氨的酶有关。我们的方法是研究基因、细胞和完整的动物，以了解在许多不同水平上的过程调节。从这项研究中获得的见解可能有助于更全面地了解气候变化将如何改变水生生态系统，并提供动物适应的基本知识。

My area of research is environmental physiology. Aquatic animals can live in environments that vary in terms of oxygen concentrations, salinity, temperature and other chemical parameters on a daily or seasonal basis. My research program focuses on how these environmental factors disturb physiological systems and the mechanisms that aquatic animals employ to compensate for these perturbations. We are particularly interested in understanding how fish balance water and ion levels, get rid of waste products (eg. ammonia) and obtain sufficient oxygen to function in changing conditions. We are studying a small mangrove fish (Kryptolebias marmoratus) that survives out of water for weeks. What special features of the gills, skin and/or kidneys allow them to balance body water and ion levels? Another aspect of our work concerns the changing enviornment that fish and amphibian embryos experience during early life stages. Neighboring embryos may deplete water oxygen levels and add metabolic wastes that impact early developmental processes. When do embryos first sense these changes in their environment? What mechanisms do they utilize to compensate for less than ideal water conditions? Some species (eg. trout) are especially sensitive to swampy water (eg. high ammonia), whereas other species (eg. goldfish) are highly tolerant. We will test whether in adult fish ammonia tolerance is linked to proteins that regulate ammonia uptake and/or enzymes that detoxify ammonia. Our approach is to study the genes, cells and intact animals to understand regulation of processes at many different levels. The insights gained from this research will potentially contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how aquatic ecosystems will be altered by climate change and provide fundamental knowledge of animal adaptation.