Research

I aim to understand how animals interact with their environments. My research examines mechanisms underlying observed ecological patterns and spans the fields of thermal biology, comparative physiology, spatial ecology and behaviour. I find that small mammals make fascinating model organisms and I study their biology using a combination of field and lab techniques.

Heat

The world is getting hotter every year. Heatwaves are pushing environmental conditions to levels beyond those in which animals can survive, resulting in mass die-offs. Habitats that are normally safe and secure are shrinking and becoming difficult to live in. What does this mean for wildlife? What strategies can they use to withstand increasingly harsh circumstances? Currently, my main research focus is the bag of physiological, behavioural and ecological tricks that animals can use to persist through heatwaves and global warming.

Energetics

My overarching research theme is energy. How much energy do animals need to live? How much energy do they expend during their daily activities? How do different aspects of their environments, such as weather, food availability, habitat type and season, influence energy budgeting?

Torpor and thermal biology

A major component of my research to date has involved studying how environmental variables affect thermoregulation and torpor use in small mammal species. This, in turn, affects their habitat choice, activity patterns and behaviour. An animal's physiology, ecology and behaviour are deeply intertwined and by figuring out empirically how it functions we can determine its current habitat requirements and predict how these requirements may change in the future. Fascinating!

Urban ecology

Some animals thrive in cities. They manage to navigate around buildings, avoid traffic, find food and pay rent, just like the rest of us... but how? Studying the spatial ecology, behaviour and metabolic physiology of animals living in the middle of a city can help give insight into strategies used to contend with urbanisation.

White-nose syndrome

White-nose syndrome is a devastating disease caused by an invasive fungal pathogen that has killed millions of North American bats during hibernation since 2006. Examining the interaction between disease pathophysiology and hibernation energetics has provided us with an enormous amount of valuable information on how we can help the bats survive... but the fight is far from over.

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