SPEAKER: Prof Michael Romero, Department of Biology, Tufts University, Massachusetts, United States

DATE: Friday, 10th March 2017
LOCATION: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – room ka4.207
TIME: 1:30pm
Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Melbourne Campus at Burwood, Room LT 5 (B3.07); and Warrnambool Campus, Room B3.03

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ABSTRACT: Many human-induced environmental changes are potentially stressful stimuli to wildlife; often they are stressful but sometimes they aren’t. Distinguishing between whether they are or are not stressful is of prime importance for conservation. Monitoring the presence, dynamics, and strength of the physiological responses to stress in potentially affected individuals can help determine whether those individuals are adversely affected.

In other words, stress physiology can tell us how well those individuals are coping with these stimuli. How those individuals respond to stress thus becomes an index for how problematic is the human-induced environmental change for that population and species. The ultimate goal is to use physiological responses to predict the health of individuals and populations that are at risk of extinction.

BIO: Michael Romero is a Professor of Biology at Tufts University in the United States. He has spent over 20 years studying stress, with an emphasis on understanding what causes stress in wild animals and how those animals successfully cope with that stress to survive in their natural habitats.

His work has spanned studies on birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians and recently culminated in a co-written book; “Tempests, Poxes, Predators, and People: Stress in Wild Animals and How They Cope”. Professor Romero is currently on sabbatical in Australia.

Appointments with guest speaker may be made via Kate Buchanan.