Scott Applebaum

Summary Statement of Research Interests

I am interested in physiological and biochemical adaptation in animals with an emphasis on the developmental stages of marine vertebrates and invertebrates from temperate, sub-tropical and polar oceans. Planktonic embryos and larvae must meet environmental challenges facing fully developed animals, while simultaneously undergoing growth and the development of anatomical structures and integrated physiological functions. These life stages strongly impact the health of populations in nature and are a bottleneck for aquaculture production of these species. The study of “how larvae work” is therefore central to predicting impacts of current and future environmental conditions on life in the ocean, securing the future of food production to sustain a growing human population, and revealing the mechanistic bases of complex traits in animals.

Research questions and technical approaches integrate levels of biological organization from genes, to whole organism, to environment. However, direct, quantitative assessment of in vivo physiological and biochemical rates is central to assessments of the mechanistic bases of biological responses and adaptions. Past and current research projects include: “Function of the developing digestive system”, “Endocrine (thyroid and corticosteroid) function and regulation in development”, “Energetic costs of responses to environmental stressors (ocean acidification)”, “Mechanisms of differential growth”, “Dissolved organic matter uptake by amino acid transporters”, and “Genetically based variation in physiological phenotype”.

Journal Article

• Frieder, C. A., Applebaum, S. L., Pan, T. C., Hedgecock, D., Manahan, D. T. (2017). Metabolic cost of calcification in bivalve larvae under experimental ocean acidification. ICES Journal of Marine Science. (74), pp. 941-954. IJMS Editor’s Choice. Featured image by S.L. Applebaum shows calcification (green) during first shell formation in Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas)
• Applebaum, S. L., Lee, J. W., Manahan, D. T. (2016). Metabolic cost of protein synthesis in larvae of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) is fixed across genotype, phenotype, and environmental temperature. The Biological Bulletin. (230), pp. 175-187.
• Rojas-García, C. R., Applebaum, S. L., Morais, S., Rønnestad, I. (2016). Trans-intestinal absorption rates differ between free amino acids during larval development in Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus). Aquaculture. (464), pp. 222-228.
• Applebaum, S. L., Pan, T. -., Lentz, B. A., Manahan, D. T. (2016). Predicting phenotypic variation in growth and metabolism of marine invertebrate larvae. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. (483), pp. 64-73.
• Applebaum, S. L., Pan, T. -., Manahan, D. T. (2015). Experimental ocean acidification alters the allocation of metabolic energy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. (112), pp. 4696-4701.
• Applebaum, S. L., Manahan, D. T., Pan, T. -. (2015). Genetically determined variation in developmental physiology of bivalve larvae (Crassostrea gigas). Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. (88), pp. 128-136.
• Applebaum, S. L., Pan, T. -., Hedgecock, D., Manahan, D. T. (2014). Separating the nature and nurture of the allocation of energy in response to global change. Integrative and Comparative Biology. (54), pp. 284-295.
• Applebaum, S. L., Finn, R. N., Faulk, C. K., Holt, G. J., Nunez, B. S. (2012). Developmental expression, differential hormonal regulation and evolution of thyroid and glucocorticoid receptor variants in a marine acanthomorph teleost (Sciaenops ocellatus). General and Comparative Endocrinology. (176), pp. 39-51.