Assoc. Professor of BiologyEvolutionary and Integrative Physiology; Behavior.Telephone: (814) 863-1384 Email: jhm10@email.psu.edu |
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| Looking for stoneflies in a small stream running through an old-growth hemlock forest (about 15 miles from campus; Alan Seeger Natural Area). Our location in Central PA affords a wealth of field sites for our studies of insects. |
In the most general terms, I am interested in how animals work, and why they work that way. In other words, I investigate both mechanistic details of animal physiology, along with ecological and historical reasons why particular physiological mechanisms have evolved. I work primarily with insects because they are readily available, fantastically diverse, and ecologically/economically important.
I am primarily interested in the physiology, behavioral ecology, life history, and evolution of aerial locomotion in insects. Projects presently underway in my laboratory examine age-related changes in muscle physiology and thermal biology during adult maturation in the dragonfly Libellula pulchella; the evolution of insect flight using stoneflies as model organisms, and performance physiology of free-flying Drosophila melanogaster .
