Animals structure their physiology so that their metabolic rate changes according to their life-history and energetic demands. We seek to understand functional linkages between whole organism metabolic rate and underlying mechanisms that influence its magnitude, such as physiological compensations at the cellular level, including changes in muscle fibers and primary fibroblast cells. We have looked at evolutionary changes in metabolic rates in primary fibroblast cells from tropical and temperate birds, developmental changes in cellular metabolic rates of muscle fibers. Currently, our lab is asking questions related to aging and metabolic rates in dogs, and trade-offs between thermal environment and muscle plasticity in birds.
