Current Research
My current research focuses on quantifying the stress response in birds. Unexpected metabolic challenges posed by the environment such as unusual food restriction, adverse weather, parasitism, and habitat loss activate the physiological stress response. In animals, this response includes release of circulating stress hormones and productionof intracellular heat shock proteins. Most research on stress in birds has relied on corticosterone to quantify their responses to adverse ecological conditions. However, release of hormones such as corticosterone can be highly volatile and sensitive to the physical handling of subjects during experiments. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have recently received attention as alternative indicators of chronic physiological stress in birds. HSPs are molecular chaperones found ubiquitously throughout the animal kingdom, and although they were originally discovered as a reaction to heat stress, they are now known to indicate stress from a wide variety of sources. They may serve as a more reliable indicator of chronic stress in birds than corticosterone because their levels fluctuate less rapidly and are less affected by capture and handling of subjects. However, HSPs have thus far been applied in ornithology research on a limited basis, and furthermore, the few studies that have used them as stress indicators have employed methods which quantify them in arbitrary units. As a result, it has been difficult to compare these studies on an objective basis. I am collaborating with Dr. Deborah O’Dell to investigate the efficacy of applying enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify HSP60 in birds, and thereby determine whether it can be used to study ecological stress. Unlike previous methods, ELISA results can be compared across studies and used in more meaningful statistical analysis of stress-inducing factors.
This project involves both field and laboratory work. If you are interested in participating in this research, please contact Dr. Dolby. To be eligible for BIOL 481/491, students must have at least a 3.0 gpa and be a serious candidate for graduate or professional school.
