Brittany (Bjelde) Davis
PhD Student - Delta Science Fellow
Animal Biology Graduate Group
Email: bebjelde@ucdavis.edu
Degrees:
MS in Biology (conc. Ecological Physiology), San Francisco State University
BS in Biology (conc. Marine Biology & Field Ecology), California State University, Stanislaus
Research Interests:
All things aquatic! But mainly environmental physiology and marine climate change physiology. I am particularly interested in better understanding biochemical and physiological mechanisms that animals use to tolerate complex environments and stressors, as well as how environmental factors affect fish behavior.
My PhD projects in the Fangue & Todgham labs (co-advised), focus on exploring the impacts of multiple climate change stressors on fishes. Projects I currently am working on are:
1) California drought and Delta fishes: Impacts of multiple stressors on the physiological performance and predator/prey dynamics of native and non-native fishes. (Species include invasive Mississippi Silverside, native and endangered Delta smelt, and predatory Largemouth Bass)
2) Effects of increasing temperature and ocean acidification will impact physiological performance and behavior in developmental stages of Antarctic fishes (Species include Trematomus bernacchii and T. pennelli).
3) Effects of ocean acidification and hypoxia on physiology and behavior of California rockfish and cabezon.
My M.S. research focused on characterizing the thermal physiology of intertidal limpets and examining how close they are currently living to their upper thermal tolerance thresholds in nature. Also, we explored what the impacts of repeated heat stressors (i.e. heat wave events) have on limpet physiology. Most recently, I have been interested in what factors/mechanisms might set upper temperature tolerance such as oxygen limitation and antioxidant defenses.
Publications:
Davis, B.E., Flynn, E.E., Miller, N.A., Nelson, F.A., Fangue, N.A. and A.E. Todgham (2017). Antarctic emerald rockcod have the capacity to compensate for warming when uncoupled from CO2. Global Change Biology (In Press).
Davis, B.E., Miller, N.A., Flynn, E.E., and A.E. Todgham (2016). Juvenile Antarctic rockcod, Trematomus bernacchii, are physiologically robust to CO2 –acidified seawater. Journal of Experimental Biology 219:1203–1213.
Jeffries, K.M., Connon, R.E., Davis, B.E., Komoroske, L.M., Britton,M.T., Sommer, T., Todgham, A.E. and N.A. Fangue (2016). Effects of high temperatures on threatened estuarine fishes during periods of extreme drought. Journal of Experimental Biology 219, 1705-1716.
Pasparakis, C.P., Davis, B.E. and A.E. Todgham (2016). The role of sequential low-tide-period conditions on the thermal physiology of summer and winter laboratory-acclimated fingered limpet, Lottia digitalis. Marine Biology 163:23.
Jeffries KM, Davis BE, Connon RE, Fangue NA. (2016) Developing molecular tools to assess the mechanisms of tolerance and resistance to environmental stressors in longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys). California Department of Water Resources Report.
Bjelde, B.E., Miller, N.A., Stillman, J.H. and A.E. Todgham (2015). The role of oxygen in determining upper thermal limits in Lottia digitalis under air-exposure and submersion. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 88(5):483-493.
Flynn, E.E., Bjelde, B.E., Miller, N.A. and A.E. Todgham (2015). Effects of ocean warming and acidification on the early development of an Antarctic fish, Gymnodraco acuticeps. Conservation Physiology 3: doi:10.1093/conphys/cov033.
Bjelde, B.E. and A.E. Todgham (2013). Thermal physiology of the fingered limpet, Lottia digitalis, under immersion and emersion conditions. Journal of Experimental Biology 216: 2858-2869.
Bjelde, B.E. Physiological performance of Lottia digitalis: thermal sensitivity and limits to intertidal conditions. Master’s Thesis, San Francisco State University 2013.
