Sensory Biology

Dr. Whitlow Au - marine bioacouistics, especially dealing with dolphins and whales; hearing processes, sound production mechanisms, sound characterization, remote acoustic sensing and hearing capabilities.

Dr. Michael Hadfield - chemoreception and metamorphic induction; chemosensory mechanisms of marine slugs, with a special emphasis on finding and characterizing the major gene family that specifies chemoreceptor proteins; the interactions between marine microorganisms and developing marine animals, especially at the time of larval recruitment.

Dr. Daniel Hartline - neuroethology and neuroecology of copepods, i.e. the relation between physiological and morphological properties of a zooplankter's sensory systems (specifically mechano- and chemoreception in copepods) and the animal's behavior and ecology.

Dr. Paul Nachtigall - the sensory and perceptual processes (taste reception, vision, hearing and echolocation) of dolphins and small whales.

Dr. George Losey - analysis of social or symbiotic communication; the functions of UV-sensitive vision in marine fishes and invertebrates.

Dr. Timothy Tricas - the sensory systems of fishes and how biologically important information is processed by the brain; the function of the electrosensory and lateral line system of stingrays and sharks; the characteristics of natural bioelectric and mechanosensory stimuli encountered by elasmobranch fishes in the wild, and neuroethological studies on the responses of the neural systems to these natural stimuli; the functional role of the latero-physic connection in butterflyfishes; gamete discharge synchrony in coral reef fishes and discrimination of inter- and intraspecific signals.