Frank Seebacher

Frank Seebacher focuses on responses of animals to changing environments, and how these responses have evolved in space and time. His approach is integrative in that it transcends taxonomic and methodological categories, and he aims to understand the whole system from genes to behavior. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Sydney in 1988 with an honors research project on hibernation in the Australian echidna. In his Ph.D. project at the University of Queensland (1994, with Gordon Grigg), he studied the biophysics of heat transfer that underlie behavioral thermoregulation in ectotherms, using the Australian freshwater crocodile as a model species. In recent years, he has increasingly combined field research with biochemical and molecular approaches to understand the different levels at which animals can respond to environmental variability, particularly to temperature. His research is primarily funded by grants from the Australian Research Council, and he supervises several honors and Ph.D. students working on projects ranging from nutrition in fish to endothermy in chickens.

Biography Updated on 11 May 2008

Personal Home Page

http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/staff/fseebacher/fseebach.htm

Articles in Scholarly Journals [Incomplete List]

  1. Plasticity of muscle function in a thermoregulating ectotherm (Crocodylus porosus): biomechanics and metabolism
    AJP: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, vol. 294, no. 3, pp. R1024–R1032, 2008
  2. Novel reptilian uncoupling proteins: molecular evolution and gene expression during cold acclimation
    Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 275, no. 1637, pp. 979–985, 2008
  3. Antarctic fish can compensate for rising temperatures: thermal acclimation of cardiac performance in Pagothenia borchgrevinki
    Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 210, no. 17, pp. 3068–3074, 2007
  4. Dishonest Signals of Strength in Male Slender Crayfish (Cherax dispar) during Agonistic Encounters.
    The American Naturalist, vol. 170, no. 2, pp. 284–291, 2007
  5. Molecular mechanisms underlying the development of endothermy in birds (Gallus gallus): a new role of PGC-1 ?
    AJP: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, vol. 293, no. 6, pp. R2315–R2322, 2007
  6. Beneficial acclimation: sex specific thermal acclimation of metabolic capacity in the striped marsh frog (Limnodynastes peronii)
    Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 210, no. 16, pp. 2932–2938, 2007
  7. Redistribution of blood within the body is important for thermoregulation in an ectothermic vertebrate (Crocodylus porosus)
    Journal of Comparative Physiology B, vol. 177, no. 8, pp. 841–848, 2007
  8. Coadaptation: A Unifying Principle in Evolutionary Thermal Biology
    Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, vol. 79, no. 2, pp. 282–294, 2006
  9. Fighting fit: thermal plasticity of metabolic function and fighting success in the crayfish Cherax destructor
    Functional Ecology, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1045–1053, 2006
  10. Thermal biology of a viviparous lizard with temperature-dependant sex determination
    Journal of Thermal Biology, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 292–301, 2006
  11. Phenotypic flexibility in the metabolic response of the limpet Cellana tramoserica to thermally different microhabitats
    Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, vol. 335, no. 1, pp. 131–141, 2006
  12. Compensation for environmental change by complementary shifts of thermal sensitivity and thermoregulatory behaviour in an ectotherm
    Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 209, no. 24, pp. 4869–4877, 2006
  13. Diving Behaviour of a Reptile (Crocodylus johnstoni) in the Wild: Interactions with Heart Rate and Body Temperature
    Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 1–8, 2005
  14. Transition from ectothermy to endothermy: the development of metabolic capacity in a bird (Gallus gallus)
    Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 273, no. 1586, pp. 565–570, 2005
  15. A falsification of the thermal specialization paradigm: compensation for elevated temperatures in Antarctic fishes
    Biology Letters, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 151–154, 2005
  16. A review of thermoregulation and physiological performance in reptiles: what is the role of phenotypic flexibility?
    Journal of Comparative Physiology B, vol. 175, no. 7, pp. 453–461, 2005
  17. Physiological mechanisms of thermoregulation in reptiles: a review
    Journal of Comparative Physiology B, vol. 175, no. 8, pp. 533–541, 2005
  18. Thermal sensitivity of heart rate and insensitivity of blood pressure in the Antarctic nototheniid fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki
    Journal of Comparative Physiology B, vol. 175, no. 2, pp. 97–105, 2004
  19. Integration of autonomic and local mechanisms in regulating cardiovascular responses to heating and cooling in a reptile (Crocodylus porosus)
    Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 2004
  20. Turtles ( Chelodina longicollis ) regulate muscle metabolic enzyme activity in response to seasonal variation in body temperature
    Journal of Comparative Physiology B: Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology, vol. 174, no. 3, pp. 205–210, 2004
  21. Physiological thermoregulation in a crustacean? Heart rate hysteresis in the freshwater crayfish
    Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, vol. 138, no. 3, pp. 399–403, 2004
  22. Biochemical acclimation of metabolic enzymes in response to lowered temperature in tadpoles of Limnodynastes peronii
    Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, vol. 137, no. 4, pp. 731–738, 2004
  23. Evaluating Thermoregulation in Reptiles: The Fallacy of the Inappropriately Applied Method
    Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 688–695, 2004
  24. Cardiovascular mechanisms during thermoregulation in reptiles
    International Congress Series, vol. 1275, pp. 242–249, 2004
  25. Dinosaur body temperatures: the occurrence of endothermy and ectothermy
    Paleobiology, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 105, 2003
  26. Facultative sex allocation in the viviparous lizard Eulamprus tympanum, a species with temperature-dependent sex determination
    Australian Journal of Zoology, vol. 51, no. 4, p. 367, 2003
  27. Ontogenetic changes of swimming kinematics in a semi-aquatic reptile (Crocodylus porosus)
    Australian Journal of Zoology, vol. 51, no. 1, p. 15, 2003
  28. The effect of heat transfer mode on heart rate responses and hysteresis during heating and cooling in the estuarine crocodile Crocodylus porosus
    Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 206, no. 7, pp. 1143–1151, 2003
  29. Seasonal acclimatisation of muscle metabolic enzymes in a reptile (Alligator mississippiensis)
    Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 206, no. 7, pp. 1193–1200, 2003
  30. Sustained Swimming Performance in Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus): Effects of Body Size and Temperature
    Journal of Herpetology, vol. 37, no. 2, p. 363, 2003
  31. An alternative method for predicting body mass: the case of the Pleistocene marsupial lion
    Paleobiology, vol. 29, no. 3, p. 403, 2003
  32. Body Temperature Null Distributions in Reptiles with Nonzero Heat Capacity: Seasonal Thermoregulation in the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)
    Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, vol. 76, no. 3, pp. 348–359, 2003
  33. Energetic cost of a meal in a frequent feeding lizard
    Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, vol. 135, no. 3, pp. 377–382, 2003
  34. A NEW METHOD TO CALCULATE ALLOMETRIC LENGTH-MASS RELATIONSHIPS OF DINOSAURS
    Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 51, 2001
  35. Behavioural Postures and the Rate of Body Temperature Change in Wild Freshwater Crocodiles, [ITAL]Crocodylus johnstoni[/ITAL]
    Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 57–63, 1999
  36. Field test of a paradigm: hysteresis of heart rate in thermoregulation by a free-ranging lizard (Pogona barbata)
    Proceedings: Biological Sciences, vol. 266, no. 1425, pp. 1291–1291, 1999
  37. Patterns of Body Temperature in Wild Freshwater Crocodiles, Crocodylus johnstoni: Thermoregulation versus Thermoconformity, Seasonal Acclimatization, and the Effect of Social Interactions
    Copeia, vol. 1997, no. 3, p. 549, 1997