My endocrine research for more than 40 years has focused on the neuroendocrine (brain, pituitary) control of thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive functions of fishes and amphibians with special interest in the role of environmental factors (natural and anthropogenic) that alter the activities of these systems during development, sexual maturation, reproduction, and aging. Most recent studies in my 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 in relation to wastewater treatment effluents and their implications for human health. I also do consulting work and basic research on identification of plant food materials in gastric, intestinal, and fecal samples from homicide victims and related forensic uses of plant including location of clandestine graves.
keywords
neuroendocrine control of endocrine functions, environmental factors that alter the endocrine systems development, sexual maturation, reproduction, aging, sex-changes in fishes, endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wastewater effluents and implications for human health, forensic botany
