Research Interests

My personal research interests span a range of environmental and evolutionary physiology topics. I have an interest in human adaptation to hypoxia (high altitude) and this work formed the basis of my Masters research. More recently, my work has focused on understanding the factors affecting climatic stress resistance in insects and particularly in tsetse flies (Diptera, Glossinidae). The evolution of different gas exchange patterns in insects as a form of environmental adaptation has also captured my attention. I am particularly interested in physiological variation and its causes and consequences at different hierarchical levels (individuals, populations and species). The evolutionary significance of within-individual variation has long been recognized and forms the foundation for several of my research projects. I am not particularly fussy about which animals I work with, and instead prefer to rely on the Krogh Principle (i.e. that for every question there is an optimal species). Hence a seemingly wide range of animals are covered during my research, and include collembola, whip-spiders (Amblypygids), scorpions and even lizards.

Springtails (Photo: B. Sinclair)

Whip-spider

Scorpion (Photo: J. Scheepers)

Cordylid lizard (Photo: C. Janion)