My research interests circle around a sub discipline of physiology: ecological physiology, or how organisms relate to and adapt to their environment. I currently work with Dr. Wayne Bennett in the Department of Biology. In my thesis work, I am examining the venom toxicity of the Atlantic stingray, Dasyatis sabina, as well as metabolic costs associated with spine production and maintenance.
Stingrays possess a spine found on the anterior portion of the tail. There are two ventrolateral grooves on each spine; it is within these grooves that venom is housed, encased within tissue. The entire spine is used in metabolic tests, in which I examine oxygen uptake of tissues and the caloric density of the spine. In toxicity tests, the spine is scraped of venomous tissues, and the tissues alone are used to determine the potency of Atlantic stingray venom. I inject Sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon variegatus, with various concentrations of stingray venom in order to determine the level of venom lethal to 50% of a population (LL50 value).
