Monday, August 08, 2005

Townson

Robert Townson began the study of osmoregulation in amphibians during the late 1700's. His work elucidated many of the well known facts we now know about amphibian water regulation such as: 1) cutaneous water absorption, 2) behavioral responses to decrease dehydration, 3) behavioral responses associated with re-hydration. In fact, his studies were so complex that they also focused on dehydration rates and differeces in water absorption behaviors between species. His work, for many years, has been highly ignored until a recent review by C. Barker Jorgensen, where several studies focused on osmoregulation were compiled, begining with Townson's work.

Since Townson many other great scientists have evolved sharing his interests in amphibian water regulation: Stanley Hillyard (whose work was the platform for my recent studies), Stanley Hillman, Vaughan Shoemaker, Ken Nagy, etc...all focused on the many aspects of osmoregulation in amphibians. Some mainly focusing on certain aspects of physiology affected by increased dehydration such as increased blood viscosity, increased blood pressure, and decreased blood circulation. Others view it from a larger perspective incorporating both physiological changes with behavioral responses.

Since frogs are biological indicators it is vital to understand the manner in which these organisms interact with their environment. Physiological ecology studies are therefore important as are those focusing on other aspects of the animals ecology/biology. Although entering this elite scientific group may be ardorous what is most important is not reaching their stature as a scientist but sharing scientific ideas and discoveries. Townson is where to start.

1 Comments:

At 12:43 AM , Blogger Quetzal said...

Hey! Somebody is finally reading this! hehe..its actually kind of embarassing...I always think I'm the only in here.

Yea, I thought about adding the links, but I was kind of doing it in a hurry. I have added them now. I feel guilty if I don't write something at least every week....that's why everything looks rushed. My new goal is to sit down and write something really well at least once a week and then publish it. We'll see how that goes.....

Actually the review is kinda old. I've had it for a while, but never got around to read all of it just bits and pieces. I recently got my review from Stan Hillyard on part of my thesis (which is still not done) who encouraged more a better literature review...he didn't really say it but I felt like I should. Thank god I started reading the review last week!

 

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