Joe Szewczak
General Information
Associate Professor
Comparative physiology and physiological ecology- especially of bats
Phone: (707) 826-4132
Office: Science B 320
Email: joe@humboldt.edu
Personal Website: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jms139/
Academic background
- BSE (1980) Duke University
- PhD (1991) Brown University
Courses
- Animal physiology
- Human physiology
- Biology of the Chiroptera
Summary of research
My research pursues the nuts and bolts of how animals work. In particular, I investigate processes that involve gas exchange such as acid-base state, the control of ventilation, and how animals use that gas, i.e. metabolism. Where possible, I like to explore these processes in their most extreme forms. Just as we can reveal critical elements of automotive engineering by racing Formula 1 cars, we can also learn much by studying physiological function near its limits. For this reason, the most aerobic of mammals, bats, have often been a subject for my research. I have explored their physiological functioning from the cold depths of torpor, to how they acclimatize and fly at high altitudes.
Sample publications
- Szewczak, J.M., and E.B. Arnett (2007) Acoustic Monitoring of Bats, in Methods and Metrics for Studying Impacts of Wind Energy Development on Nocturnal Species (Birds and Bats), T.H. Kunz, ed. National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) (in press).
- Parsons, S., and J.M. Szewczak (2007) Detecting, Recording, and Analyzing the Vocalizations of Bats, in Ecological and Behavioral Methods for the Study of Bats, 2nd Edition, T.H. Kunz, ed. Johns Hopkins Press (in press).
- Szewczak, J.M. (2004) Advanced analysis techniques for identifying bat species. Proceedings of the Bat Conservation International Echolocation Symposium, Austin, TX, April, 2002. Published by Bat Conservation International.
- Szewczak, J.M. and F.L. Powell (2003) Open-flow plethysmography with pressure-decay compensation. Respiration Physiology. 134:57-67.
- Sullivan, S.G. and J.M. Szewczak (1998) Apneic oxygen uptake in the torpid pocket mouse, Perognathus parvus. Physiological Zoology. 71(6):624-632.
- Szewczak, J.M., S.M. Szewczak, M.L. Morrison, and L. Hall (1998) Bats of the White-Inyo Range. Great Basin Naturalist. 58(1):66-75.
- Szewczak, J. M. (1997) Matching gas exchange in the bat from flight to torpor. in: Comparative Aspects of the Control of Arterial Blood Gases: Ventilatory and Cardiovascular Perspectives. American Zoologist. 37:92-100.
- Szewczak, J.M. and D.C. Jackson (1992) Apneic Oxygen uptake in the torpid bat, Eptesicus fuscus. Journal of Experimental Biology. 173:217-229.
Graduate students
- Aaron Corcoran
- Fully automated acoustic identification of 15 bat species using full spectrum analysis of echolocation calls.
- Jean-Paul Kennedy
- Bats of the northern California old growth redwood forest: The interaction of bats and old growth redwoods across a vertical gradient.
- Amy Amones
- Assessing monitoring techniques for bird populations in Sierra Nevada montane meadow and aspen communities.
- Cameron Rognan
- Bioacoustic techniques to monitor populations of Great Gray Owls (Strix nebulosa) in the Sierra Nevada.
- Kiera Freeman
- Roosting behavior of a maternal colony of Townsends Big-eared bat, Corynorhinus townsendii.