SPEAKER: Professor Kurt Gamperl, Ocean Science Centre, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
DATE: Thursday, 25th September 2014
LOCATION: Warrnambool Campus, Room C1.13
TIME: 1:00 pm
Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Melbourne Campus at Burwood, Room LT11 (B1.20) and Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds, Room DD3.219

RESEARCH INTERESTS: Since completing his PhD in biology at Dalhousie in 1994, Prof Gamperl has studied various aspects of the stress, metabolic, exercise and cardiovascular physiology of vertebrates from fishes to alligators.

However, his most significant contributions have been made in understanding how fishes respond and adapt to challenging environmental conditions such as hypoxia (anoxia), changes in temperature, and temperature extremes.

This research has been used to set water temperature criteria for redband trout (residents of the high desert regions of Oregon and Idaho), and has defined the upper temperature limits of several fish species (e.g. cod, rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, Arctic charr) used in cage-site aquaculture. Further it has:

1. Shown the critical importance of heart function in determining the upper and lower temperature limits of fishes;
2. Determined how elevated temperatures impact immune function and the capacity of fishes to respond to bacterial and viral pathogens; and
3. Revealed the mechanisms that allow cunner (a north Atlantic wrasse species) to enter metabolic depression (torpor) in winter, and how the ability to depress metabolism impacts their capacity to survive climate change relevant environmental challenges (e.g. hypoxia and high temperatures).

For enquiries and appointments with the guest speaker, please email Luis Afonso.