SEB Centenary Conference 2023

Dr. Steven Cooke

The Journal of Conservation Physiology

Steven J. Cooke, Short Bio.  Cooke is a professor of environmental science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.  He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Conservation Physiology.  Much of his work is centred on using physiological tools to study how wild fish respond to different human activities and testing various conservation solutions.

 

Dr. Christine Madliger

University of Windsor

Madliger is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Algoma University in Ontario, Canada. Her research program focuses on determining how environmental change impacts stress physiology, behaviour, and fitness in birds and fishes, with a particular emphasis on applications for conservation science. She is also an Associate Editor for Conservation Physiology.

Dr. Kevin Hultine

Desert Biological Garden

Kevin R Hultine. Hultine is the Director of Research at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He is also the Plant Science Editor of Conservation Physiology. His work investigates ecophysiological traits that underlie plant adaptation to heat waves, drought and other stressors.

 

Dr. Jodie Rummer

James Cook University

Rummer is a professor of marine biology at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. She and her team research the effects of climate change and other Anthropogenic stressors on physiological performance of coral reef fishes, including sharks and rays, with implications toward adaptation and conservation. She is also an associate editor for Conservation Physiology and editor for the section, Conservation Physiology in Action.

Professor Johannes Overgaard

Aarhus University

Johannes Overgaard earned his PhD (2003) from the Arhus University where he also works as Professor at the section for Zoophysiology. Johannes Overgaard current research is primarily concerned with heat and cold tolerance in insects where he studies the consequences of extreme temperature at the cellular, organ, organismal and population level.

Dr. Michael Berenbrink

University of Liverpool

Michael is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. He obtained a doctorate in Natural Sciences at Düsseldorf University, Germany, then worked as Assistant Professor at Humboldt University, Berlin, before accepting his current position in Liverpool. Michael’s primary research interests lie in the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology of Animals, where he uses the vertebrate oxygen transport chain as a model system for studying the evolution of mechanisms of environmental adaptation. He serves on the editorial board of four journals and has delivered over 40 invited presentations across the world.

Prof. Andrew Biewener

Harvard University

Over the past five decades, the SEB has provided an exciting and critically important forum for sharing ground-breaking research on the aerodynamics of invertebrate and vertebrate animal flight, animal flight performance in relation to migration, and the morphology, physiology and dynamics of muscle contractile function that provides the mechanical power output for flight. Highlights of novel research discoveries underlying animal flight performance will be briefly reviewed and linked to the neuromuscular function of flight muscles that power vertebrate flapping flight. High-speed video, robotic models, particle imaging of fluid flow, computational fluid dynamics modelling, and in vivo methods for recording muscle function have all been key approaches to gaining critical insight into the aerodynamic mechanisms and the muscle power output requirements for flight. Newly emerging techniques and technologies provide the opportunity to explore animal flight performance in the field, offering a rich set of future discoveries linked to the ecology of our changing world. 

Prof. Leslie Buck

University of Toronto

The mammalian brain only survives a few minutes without oxygen, but the turtle brain of freshwater painted and red-eared slide turtles survives many hours to months without oxygen.  The foundation of our current knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of this ability lies at the confluence of four remarkable scientific careers in the 1960’s.  At Duke University the famed comparative physiologist Knut Schmidt-Nielsen established his research laboratory and attracted the attention of Peter Hochacka, Donald Jackson and Peter Lutz.  Jackson made the first calorimetric measurements of a reversible metabolic arrest in the Schmidt-Nielsen Lab in 1966, subsequently Lutz demonstrated the maintenance of ion gradients in anoxic turtle brain and Hochachka explored mechanisms of metabolic arrest and formulated the metabolic and ion channel arrest concepts.   “On the shoulders” of these individuals I have advanced my own research on anoxia-tolerant turtle brain and have uncovered evidence of ion channel arrest and in a special case of enhanced ion channel activity.  I will give an overview of this evidence and show recent data showing ion channel arrest in turtle liver cells.

Dr. Andreas Fahlman

L'Oceanogràfic

In 1940, Per Scholander published his seminal paper “Experimental investigations on the respiratory function in diving mammals and birds” that summarized much of the understanding about the physiological responses and adaptations of species that breath-hold dive. While some of the physiological responses had been described earlier, Scholanders treatise provided a unifying summary of the cardiorespiratory responses while diving. This included the dive response, with a reduced cardiac output conserving blood oxygen to the central organs. Scholander also proposed that the anatomy of the respiratory system would aid in alveolar collapse and cessation of gas exchange at depth. Development of miniature-electronics that could measure and record physiological function (i.e., Physio-logging) allowed pioneering field studies by several researchers, e.g Gerry Kooyman. These studies showed that although the dive response was present in free-ranging animals, it was highly variable and seldom as pronounced as during forced dives, suggesting that dive adapted animals have a conditioned capacity to vary heart rate. Physio-logging also provided evidence of alveolar collapse in seals and dolphins, where alveolar compression occurs at shallow depths while complete atelectasis much deeper. The combination of these past studies provided evidence for the “selective gas exchange hypothesis” which provides an explanation how breath-hold diving species manage gases while diving, and how man-made disturbance and climate change may alter this ability. This presentation will provide a summary of the work that followed Scholanders publication and present our current knowledge 83 years later. 

Prof. Andrea Fuller

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Andrea Fuller is a professor in the School of Physiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Her primary research focus is in the area of wildlife conservation physiology, with two main themes: understanding the physiological plasticity available to mammals to cope with climate change; and improving the physiological welfare of mammals during conservation management practices. Since 2007 she has directed the Brain Function Research Group, which carries out research in the fields of sleep, fever, pain, thermal and wildlife conservation physiology. She has published over 140 peer-reviewed publications, hosted eight postdoctoral fellows, and supervised 37 Doctoral and Masters students. She is the Chair of the Commission on Comparative Physiology for the International Union of Physiological Sciences and an associate editor of the journal Conservation Physiology. In recognition of her contribution to science in South Africa, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2020.

 

Dr. William Joyce

Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre

William Joyce received his BSc in Zoology from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) and PhD in Bioscience from Aarhus University (Denmark). During his doctorate he studied the regulation of cardiac filling in reptiles and fishes. In his postdoctoral career he continued to investigate the evolution of the heart and cardiac proteins at the University of Ottawa (Canada), University of Manchester, and Aarhus University. He now works as a senior postdoc at the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre (through a contract held with CIBER; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red) studying sarcomeric proteins, adrenergic signalling, and cardiac metabolism.

Prof. Philip Matthews

University of British Columbia

Besides teleost fish, only one other group of aquatic animals has evolved the ability to control their buoyancy using compressible gas-filled bladders: the larvae of the phantom midge (Chaoborus). By the early 1900s, studies had revealed that fish release oxygen from haemoglobin in their blood to inflate their swim bladder, and shrink it by absorbing oxygen back into their blood. While the similarity between the function of the swim bladder of a fish and the four tiny air-sacs of a Chaoborus larva had long been noted, the absence of haemoglobin in these near-transparent insects suggested the presence of a very different buoyancy control mechanism. August Krogh tackled this problem in 1911, ruling out oxygen secretion but failing to identify the actual mechanism. Developments in knowledge and techniques across a range of disparate fields in the intervening 100 years have made it possible to finally characterise the unique buoyancy control system of Chaoborus. 

Prof Julian Dow

In terms of species, insects are the most diverse Class of life. They are able to exploit a remarkable range of ecological niches, and their survival depends on their ability to regulate their internal enviroments in the face of extreme challenges, which are addressed with modifications on the same basic body plan. This talk will review some of the diversity of osmoregulatory strategies in Class Insecta, with particular reference to the structure and function of the Malpighian (renal) tubules and the alimentary canal. 

Dr. Rachael Morgan

University of Bergen

I am an ecophysiologist based at the University of Bergen, Norway. I am interested in understanding how fish can cope during extreme climate-related events (e.g. severe hypoxia, and heat waves). In my current postdoc I am combing fieldwork with lab experiments to investigate how large daily fluctuations in oxygen affect the physiology and behaviour of coral reef fish.

Dr. Pauline Provini

Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle

How do animals move and interact with their environment? How do they achieve critical functions like locomotion, feeding, or communication? Biomechanics seeks to answer these questions by combining experimental observations with mechanical and mathematical modelling, allowing researchers to gain insights into the mechanics of animal movement. Over the years, musculoskeletal biomechanics, studying how muscles, bones, joints, and tendons work together to produce motion, has made significant conceptual leaps, often linked to technical and modelling advances. In this talk, I will highlight some of the significant historical milestones in biomechanics, and showcase pioneering figures who paved the way for the latest cutting-edge research. By understanding their ideas and methods, we can appreciate how they have helped to shape our understanding of animal movement and more generally of the evolution and diversity of animal form and function, a central theme at SEB for the past decades. 

 

Prof. Suvi Ruuskanen

University of Jyväskylä

Dr. Suvi Ruuskanen is currently an Associate Professor in Environmental Physiology at the Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä. Her research is at the intersection of environmental sciences and ecological, physiological and molecular ecology.  Dr. Ruuskanen is broadly interested in the mechanisms underlying organismal adaptation to environmental changes, including the role of transgenerational (incl maternal and paternal effects) and developmental plasticity. Her research currently has a strong focus on  host-microbiome interactions, to understand the causes and consequences of variation in gut microbiome, from molecular mechanisms to evolutionary patterns. These questions are being addressed in avian study systems.

Prof. Holly Shiels

University of Manchester

The work of Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley at the Physiological Laboratory in Cambridge and the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth revolutionised our understanding of cell excitability and garnered them the 1963 Nobel Prize. Their legacy is our comprehension of how voltage-gated ion channels give rise to action potentials both experimentally and mathematically. Experimentally they developed the voltage-clamp technique and established the field of electrophysiology.  By utilising giant axons from squid their work forms a classic example of the August Krogh principal.  Mathematically, the equations they derived from their experimental work represents the first quantitative description of electrical excitability in cells and set the foundation for the coupling of experimental and computational science.  The Hodgkin-Huxley model still forms the basis of computational modelling of excitable cells today.  This talk will reflect on these historic contributions and then demonstrate their relevance for some of the most important questions in physiology and biology today: from what goes wrong with propagation of excitation at environmental extremes to the integration of life across levels of biological organisation

Prof. Trish Shulte

University of British Columbia

This centenary year for the Journal of Experimental Biology is also the 50^th anniversary of the publication of “Strategies of Biochemical Adaptation”, which is the first of several books by Peter Hochachka and George Somero that were instrumental in founding the field of comparative biochemistry. In developing this new field, they took the philosophy and approaches of comparative physiology and applied them to questions at the biochemical level, resulting in a deeply integrative discipline that attempts to understand organismal function from the molecular level upwards. In this talk, I will look back at the fundamental insights developed by Hochachka and Somero and the key questions that they posed, and highlight how recent advances in genomics and genome editing mean that we are now poised to address these questions in exciting new ways.  

 

Dr. Laura Stidsholt

Aarhus University

All animals rely on sensing to survive. Approximately one in five mammals use echolocation as their primary sensory modality to navigate and locate food in total darkness. As small, nocturnal fliers, echolocating bats have a high metabolic rate that must be sustained by targeting small and often highly agile prey. Since Spallanzani's pioneering experiments in the 18th century, scientists have been intrigued by how bats hunt using only their voice and ears. Throughout the 20^th century, bat echolocation and sound perception were explored intensively, particularly through captive behavioural and neurophysiological experiments that laid the foundation for exploring animal cognition and sensory perception, thanks to the work of Donald Griffin. Recent technological advancements, including radio tracking, GPS, and sensor loggers, have facilitated direct measurements of the movement, physiology, foraging, and fine-scale sensory-motor behaviour of wild bats. These developments have allowed us to understand how bats use echolocation to capture enough food to maintain their high energy requirements in the wild, and how their sensory and foraging behaviour is adapted to a changing world. With this talk, I will trace the evolution of bat echolocation research from Spallanzani to the present day, and explore how bats, which evolved their biosonar in a silent and dark world, are facing challenges from human encroachment in natural ecosystems, which are affecting their ability to maintain a positive energy balance in a modern world. 

 

Prof. Jamie Voyles

University of Nevada, Reno

How do epidemics end? A transition away from the outbreak phase of a disease can occur following the emergence of highly pathogenic infectious agents. Yet the mechanisms that underpin such transitions remain obscure. We have been investigating shifts in disease dynamics in the lethal disease amphibian chytridiomycosis by focusing on host recoveries in the amphibian assemblages of Central America. The fungal pathogen that causes chytridiomycosis, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), spread through Costa Rica and Panama in a wave-like pattern approximately two decades ago, causing mass mortality events and severe declines in many amphibian species. However, some host populations that survived initial outbreaks are persisting and even rebounding despite Bd infection. We have found that infection patterns are heterogenous across populations, species, and geographical space. In some species, Bd prevalence and intensity of infection is now low, yet the pathogenicity of Bd isolates is still high, causing 100% mortality in naive hosts in controlled laboratory experiments. This finding suggests that shifts in host resistance and/or tolerance to Bd infection may be important mechanisms underpinning amphibian recoveries and ecological resilience. We also expect that focusing research efforts on other host traits, including innate and adaptive immune responses, the cutaneous microbiome, life history characteristics, and behaviour may offer promising avenues for further investigation to understand the mechanisms underpinning shifts in disease dynamics across spatial-temporal gradients. 

Prof. Tobias Wang

Aarhus University

No bio provided

Prof. Rod Wilson

University of Exeter

No bio provided

Dr Tom Daniel

Two groundbreaking papers published in 1954, led by Andrew Huxley, laid out the theory of the mechanism of muscle contraction based on molecular interactions between myofilaments in the sarcomere that cause filaments to slide past one another during muscle contraction.  These and subsequent papers established the classic “sliding filament hypothesis”.   In the subsequent decades of research, new computational and experimental approaches have allowed us to understand this complex multi-scale process, from force generation to energy delivery at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels of organization.  The vast swath of research in this domain underlies our understanding of animal movement, human disease, and biomimetic technologies.  And, as it turns out, new data suggest that the filaments not only slide, they stretch and dilate as well.  These additional axial and radial motions have profound implications to how energy may be stored and how substrates may be delivered via diffusion and fluid motions.  Both historical and current approaches of this fundamental biomechanical process will be explored, with a focus on the complex dynamics of the myofilament lattice and new ideas emerging about multi-scale physics. 

David Evans

I also lead the Cell Biology section of the SEB. I am Emeritus Professor and member of the Plant Cell Biology Research Group at Oxford Brookes University. The SEB has been central to my research career over more than 40 years - I gave my first public talk as a PhD student at an SEB meeting and have been an active SEB member ever since. For the last 20 years, I have specialised in the study of the plant nuclear envelope, nuclear structure and dynamics and have led, co-organised and contributed to the development of this area in the SEB.

Dr Verena Kreichbaumer

Oxford Brookes University

I am a plant cell biologist and protein biochemist with expertise in the structure and function of the plant endoplasmic reticulum, membrane proteins and auxin biosynthesis.

I carried out my PhD work at the Technical University of Munich where I studied the nitrilase pathway in maize auxin biosynthesis and the maize tryptophan synthase complex. A short-term postdoctoral position at Oxford Brookes allowed me to expand my expertise to ER and Golgi as well as acquiring skills in live cell imaging. I further investigated the targeting of tail-anchored proteins as a postdoc at Sheffield Hallam University. Here, I also applied total internal reflection ellipsometry to quantify protein-membrane interactions on native plant membranes and human cell lines.

I took up a position at Oxford Brookes in 2012 investigating the role of reticulon proteins in ER tubulation and viral trafficking, followed by work on producing the methanotroph pMMO enzyme complex in plants. In 2017, I was appointed as the Vice Chancellors Research Fellow in Biology at Oxford Brookes and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2020.

My current projects include structure and dynamics of the ER, ER exit sites, methane detoxification, the ER-nuclear envelope interface and investigating plant glycosylation for the production of therapeutics.

Prof. Jim Murray

Cardiff University

Jim Murray is Professor and Head of School at the Cardiff University School of Biosciences. He has long standing research interests in the plant cell cycle, identifying the D-type cyclin family in plants, and in molecular diagnostics using bioluminescence. After spending 20 years in the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge where he was Professor of Molecular Biotechnology, he moved to Cardiff University in 2008.  He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and of the Academia Europaea, and a co-founder of the diagnostics company Lumora Ltd, for which he was named BBSRC Commercial Innovator of the Year in 2012.  

Dr. Liana Acevedo-Siaca

Michigan State University

Liana Acevedo-Siaca is a postdoctoral researcher at the Michigan State University-Department of Energy (MSU-DOE) Plant Research Laboratory (PRL). Her current research focuses on understanding how plants respond to fluctuating light conditions within the context of other abiotic stresses, such as heat. Furthermore, her work aims to connect the fields of plant physiology and breeding by characterizing natural variation, understanding the limitations to photosynthesis, and exploring the amenability for improvement of photosynthetic traits through selection to work towards more resilient crops.

Prior to joining MSU, Acevedo-Siaca completed her graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she focused on plant physiology and photosynthesis in rice in collaboration with the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) Project. During graduate school she spent time at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines as a U.S. Borlaug Fellow in Global Food Security. Most recently, Acevedo-Siaca worked at CIMMYT as an Associate Scientist in the Wheat Physiology division of the Global Wheat Program.

Dr Stefan Kepinski

University of Leeds

Stefan Kepinski is a Professor of Plant Development and Head of the School of Biology at the University of Leeds. His research spans the biophysical basis of auxin perception to the understanding of the control of growth angle in plants. His group’s work has led to new ways to increase the sustainability of crop production, including patented technologies for the optimisation of root system architecture. Through this work, he has become engaged in the problem of the decarbonisation of agriculture and the wider food system. He is Associate Director of the Global Food & Environment Institute where he leads research on agriculture and environment through the Leeds Net Zero Agriculture Living Lab. He is also on the Executive Leadership Team of the AgriFood4NetZero Network Plus project (www.agrifood4netzero.net), which aims to envision plausible scenarios for a net zero agri-food system and provide practical pathways to achieving the most optimal of these alternative futures.

Prof. Stephen Long

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract:

“Photosynthesis in the SEB yesterday, today and tomorrow - from molecular to global sustainability solutions”

Photosynthesis is the most important process on the planet.  Indeed, it has made much of what the planet is today.  Directly or indirectly it provides all of our food, and fuels almost all ecosystems.  The SEB has been party to much of the discovery of how it works and advances in its measurement and analysis from molecules to landscapes.  Presidents, Medalists, Woolhouse Lecturers and PEPG have been and are major contributors, as I will illustrate.  Discovery and technical progress has expanded in two directions.  1) Growth in food demand is outstripping growth in production, reversing this situation is critical to avoiding increasing starvation and expansion of agriculture into tropical forests.  For our major crops improving photosynthesis appears the remaining option for increasing genetic yield potential.  Elucidation of the underlying gene expression networks and metabolic flux analysis are guiding engineering, including editing, of amounts and forms of key proteins to improve photosynthetic efficiency under global change.  This has already led to on farm demonstrations of increased yield and promises many more.  2) The need to understand sinks for CO₂ has motivated improved measurement and analysis of photosynthesis at scale.  This is critical to identifying sinks and the engineering of managed systems for improved sequestration.  Afforestation and planting of other sustainable productive perennials are providing means to offset emissions.  These though could be greatly enhanced by engineering and breeding increased photosynthetic efficiency, especially if combined with combustion carbon capture and storage.    Going forward photosynthesis may never have been more important.

Biography:

Steve Long holds the Ikenberry University Chair of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. His photosynthesis research spans from carbon metabolism to field crops; with a focus on breeding and bioengineering for sustainable yield increases under global change. Last year his teams in silico and subsequent in vivo engineering of photosynthesis led to a more than 25% increase in soybean yields in replicated field trials.  He is Founding and Chief Editor of the journals Global Change Biology and Global Change Biology-Bioenergy, and has given briefings on global food security and on bioenergy to the President at the White House, the Vatican and Bill Gates.  He first joined the SEB as an undergraduate, is a past convener of Plant Environmental Physiology Group and session organizer, and is a member of the Plant Section Committee.  He was the 2008 Woolhouse Lecturer. 

Dr. Sylvain Giroud

Vetmeduni Vienna & University of Vienna

Sylvain Giroud is an independent researcher (assistant professor) at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Austria. He is an evolutionary ecophysiologist and his research focuses on the mechanisms enabling animal species to cope with environmental fluctuations. He has a particular interest for how heterothermic endotherms especially hibernators respond to environmental change and global warming.

Dr. Julia Nowack

Liverpool John Moores University

Julia Nowack is an associate professor (Reader) at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. Her research area lies at the interface of ecology, evolution and physiology and focuses on energetical adaptations by individual animals that are of evolutionary importance, mainly in the context of environmental change, anthropogenic disturbance and global warming.

 

Dr. Jérémy Terrien

Natural History National Museum

Jérémy Terrien is an associate professor at Natural History National Museum in Paris, France. His research focuses on understanding how animals face predictable or unpredictable fluctuations in environmental conditions, including ambient temperature and food availability, and how these responses change across individual’s age.

 

Prof. Andrea Fuller

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Andrea Fuller is a professor in the School of Physiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Her primary research focus is in the area of wildlife conservation physiology, with two main themes: understanding the physiological plasticity available to mammals to cope with climate change; and improving the physiological welfare of mammals during conservation management practices. Since 2007 she has directed the Brain Function Research Group, which carries out research in the fields of sleep, fever, pain, thermal and wildlife conservation physiology. She has published over 140 peer-reviewed publications, hosted eight postdoctoral fellows, and supervised 37 Doctoral and Masters students. She is the Chair of the Commission on Comparative Physiology for the International Union of Physiological Sciences and an associate editor of the journal Conservation Physiology. In recognition of her contribution to science in South Africa, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2020.

 

Dr Caroline Gilbert

Professor, National Vet School of Alfort , EnvA

Caroline Gilbert is a Professor of Ethology at the National Vet School of Alfort (EnvA). Her research focuses on physiological and behavioural adaptations of organisms facing environmental constraints. She has been investigating the energetic benefits of social thermoregulation on various models (rabbits, penguins, elephant seals) and in particular how individuals modulate their temperature (body and surface) and their behaviour to better respond to environmental conditions. Her research also focuses on how individual strategies and coping styles could be related to personality traits, determining individual variability in behavioural and physiological adaptations. She conducts research on company animals (dogs, cats) to better understand how they adapt to our human-based environment.

Dr. Katharina Ruthsatz

Technical University of Braunschweig

Dr Katharina Ruthsatz is an assistant professor and junior research group leader at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany. Her research interests encompass a broad range of aspects related to conservation physiology and ecotoxicology of ectotherms in general and amphibians in particular. Using experimental and theoretical approaches, she investigates how environmental stressors associated with global change affect vital rates such as growth, development, metabolism, and survival and how animals might cope with novel environments and challenges by exhibiting phenotypic plasticity and flexibility.

Dr Ofir Levy

Senior Lecturer, Tel Aviv University

I was awarded my PhD in December 2010, completed a postdoc position in 2018, when I began a Senior Lecture position in Tel Aviv University. My work aims to explore the biological consequences of climate change. In particular, in response to changing climates, organisms are shifting distributions, phenotypes, and life histories, and I believe that to understand these contemporary shifts and to predict future ones, we need a mechanistic understanding of how environmental, physiological, and ecological factors limit and drive individuals and populations. To this end, my students and I combine bottom-up and top-down approaches that integrate climatic, physiological, and ecological data. Specifically, we have developed a state-of-the-art modeling approach to downscaling regional climate data to a scale relevant to organisms (meters to centimeters). Then, by incorporating ecological and physiological models, we explore how and why ecological systems are likely to respond to climate change