Environmental and Comparative Endocrinology Laboratory

Ramaley N368

Department of Integrative Physiology
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0354
phone: 303-492-8379

Research Interests

Neuroendocrine (brain, pituitary) control of thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive functions of fishes and amphibians with special interest in the role of enrivonmental factors (natural and anthropogneic) that alter the activities of these systems during development, sexual maturation, reproduction, and aging.

Recent studies in the laboratory have focused on aging in the salmon brain, metamorphosis in amphibians, sex-changes in fishes, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals on amphibian development and sexual differentiation, trout stress responses, and fish sexual differentiation and reproduction.

Studies are also performed in forensic biology, including research on identification of plant and food materials in gastric, intestinal, and fecal samples from homicide victims and related forensic uses of plants.

Personnel

Laboratory Director: David O. Norris, Ph.D.

Faculty: Jane H. Bock, Ph.D., Richard E. Jones, Ph.D.

Research Associates:

Graduate Students:

Undergraduate Students:

(Standing, L to R): Laura Carruth, Greta Rosen, Richard Jones, John Woodling.
(Kneeling) Tammy Maldonado, Sarah Donehower, David Norris, Harriet Austin

Current Research Projects

Stress and aging in the brain of kokanee salmon.

Cortisol and brain changes leading to death following breeding in a marsupial mouse.

Methoprene insecticide and development in salamanders.

Dioxin and its interactions with steroid on development of amphibian gonoducts.

Xenoestrogens and hermaphroditism in fishes associated with sewage effluents

Neuroendocrine aspects of metamorphosis and sexual maturation in tiger salamanders.

Recent Publications

Norris DO. Endocrine disruption of amphibian reproduction. In Norris DO, Lopez KH (eds). Hormones and Reproduction of Vertebrates, Vol II. Amphibians. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 203-211, 2010.

Norris DO. Hormones and reproductive patterns in urodele and gymnnophionid amphibians. In Norris DO, Lopez KH (eds). Hormones and Reproduction of Vertebrates, Vol. II, Amphibians. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 187-202, 2010.

Norris DO, Lopez KH (eds). Hormones and Reproduction of Vertebrates, Vol. I, Fishes; Vol. II, Amphibians; Vol. III, Reptiles; Vol. IV, Birds; Vol. V, Mammals. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2011.

Norris DO, Lopez KH. The endocrinology of the mammalian ovary. In Norris DO, Lopez KH (eds). Hormones and Reproduction of Vertebrates, Vol. V, Amphibians. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 59-72, 2010.

Schultz MM, Furlong ET, Kolpin, DW, Werner, SL, Schoenfuss HL, Barber LB, Blazer V, Norris DO, Vajda AM. Antidepressant pharmaceuticals in two U.S. effluent-impacted streams: Occurrence and fate in water and sediment, and selective uptake in fish neural tissue. Environmental Science and Technology 44: 1918-1925, 2010.