Expertise

Research Interests:

  • Ecological Parasitology

My research interests are ecological parasitology; biology of parasitic castrators especially rhizocephalan barnacles; diversity of parasites within the Mobile-Tensaw Delta of Alabama and Ubatuba Bay in Brazil; crustacean biology; and the construction of submarines such as the H.L. Hunley in Mobile during the Civil War.

My research projects are:

  1. Investigating chemical cues used by rhizocephalan barnacles to detect vulnerable hosts.
  2. Determining environmental parameters that affect where and when in Mobile Bay that blue crabs are parasitized by the infective stage of the rhizocephalan, Loxothylacus texanus.
  3. Surveying the diversity and prevalence of parasites in fish, amphibian, and reptile hosts in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and Mobile Bay.
  4. Documenting the technological contributions made by citizens of Mobile during the Civil War that demonstrated the feasibility of underwater warfare as exemplified by the construction of true submarines such as the H.L. Hunley
Communities
Biological Science
Degrees
PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara , Biology, 1984
BA, Stanford University, Biology