Date of Thesis

Spring 2026

Description

Mitochondria operate at the forefront of organismal-environmental interactions. Despite remarkable diversity in mitochondrial function both within and among species, all mitochondria serve a universal role in facilitating the flow of energy between organisms and their environment. Energetic efficiency, the way in which organisms assimilate and transform environmental substrate into physiological currency, is a major determinant of organismal performance. Although previous studies have shown that early-life environment can have lasting effects on metabolism, the underlying mechanisms driving the emergence of mitochondrial phenotypic variation remain poorly understood. Leach’s storm-petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous) provide a valuable opportunity to investigate longitudinal hypotheses of how early-life environmental factors influence chick growth and mitochondrial physiology. Given the demands of adult pelagic foraging, there is significant natural variation in parental feeding investment, resulting in various chick developmental growth trajectories. Chapter 2 demonstrates that over the course of postnatal development, mitochondrial respiration increased with chick age and was significantly related to parental feeding frequency and chick wing growth. In addition, Chapter 2 provides evidence that an increase in physiological damage during natural states of fasting during development may be mediated by changes in mitochondrial physiology. Chapter 3 further investigates the metabolic performance of chicks during an acute handling stressor and demonstrates that individuals who prioritized ATP efficiency during the physiological response faced an immediate cost of elevated DNA oxidative damage. Taken together, these findings provide support for mitochondrial plasticity during postnatal development and offer insight into the metabolic mechanisms that may underlie the life history of this long-lived seabird.

Keywords

mitochondria, metabolic flexibility, acute stressor, oxidative damage, corticosterone, seabirds

Access Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Science

Major

Biology

First Advisor

Dr. Mark Haussmann

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