The Esbaugh Lab - Research

Respiratory Physiology

My lab explores questions related to respiratory plasticity related to environmental stress, including hypoxia, ocean acidification and ocean warming. We utilize approaches that integrate cellular and organismal physiology, biochemistry and behavior. We currently have an NSF funded grant exploring the respiratory plasticity of red drum to prolonged environmental hypoxia.

swimming.mp4

A juvenile red drum in a swim tunnel. This is one of the ways we measure respiratory performance.

Osmoregulation and Acid-base Balance

Gulf of Mexico estuaries are dynamic environments that range in salinity and CO2. Resident fish must transition between different osmotic environments and compensate for environmentally induced acid-base disturbances. This research stream explores the cellular mechanisms that allow fish to survive in these complex environments using a combination of cellular physiology, microscropy, and organismal physiology.

Confocal image showing ionocytes on the skin of a larval red drum. These cells are responsible for ion exchange in early life stage fishes.

Aquatic Toxicology

My lab is interested in a number of questions related to toxicants in marine environments. Over the past few years we have been interested in exploring the effects of oil and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on fishes, as well as the potential detrimental effects of tire wea particle chemicals and 6PPD-quinone on estuarine fishes of Texas. We general use a combination of traditional toxicity testing and non-traditional sub-lethal assessments of physiological performance and behavior.

See Prospective Students for information on a new post-doctoral opportunity to study lithium toxicity in estuarine fishes.

Early life oil exposure causes a characteristic injury phenotype, shown above. This includes spinal curvature, malformed hearts and reduced brain sizes.

Physiology, Environment And Behavior

Over the past five years my lab has increasingly incorporated behavior as a focus of our work on the effects of environmental stress. These questions generally consider the impacts of environmental stressors on exhibited behavior patterns and the relationship between physiological phenotype and behavioral phenotype.

fight.mp4

This dyad test is a competition based assay that we used to determine dominant and subordinate social hierarchies in red drum. Fish with better respiratory performance are more likely to be dominant.

Comparative Physiology

My lab is also opportunistic about exploring basic questions related to comparative physiology in fishes. These questions center around the respiratory and osmoregulatory adaptations of a diverse range of bony fish, sharks and rays found in marine and estuarine environments.

tarpon.mp4

An Atlantic tarpon breathing air in response to hypoxia exposure

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