We are interested in physiological adaptations of marine animals to their complex and dynamic environment. We research the adaptations these animals have developed to temperature, salinity, light, and especially oxygen levels.
We study how animals manage to strike a balance in oxygen supply and demand throughout environmental and exercise challenges. Cephalopods are especially interesting since they are able to sustain very active lifestyles (high oxygen demand) despite phylogenetically-constrained oxygen supply.
Mammalian brains (such as ours) are quite intolerant to hypoxia (low oxygen). Therefore, there is much research interest in understanding how other animals’ brains survive under these challenging conditions. Adaptations for hypoxia in vertebrate brains have been rather well-studied, but the hypoxic responses and resiliency of the independently-evolved complex brain of cephalopods are poorly understood. We are striving to understand them better.
We are broadly interested in many aspects of cephalopod biology. We apply an integrative approach to research that incorporates biochemistry, genetics, physiology, behavior, and ecology to gain a holistic understanding of these taxa and their role in marine ecosystems.
Birk Lab of Cephalopod Physiology 