Alex Gunderson
@agunderson.bsky.social
Assistant professor, Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane. Eco-evo physiology, thermal biology, heavy metals, global change.
http://www.physiologicalecology.com
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7m2bmbsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
http://www.physiologicalecology.com
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7m2bmbsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Some more nice coverage of the lead work
August 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Some more nice coverage of the lead work
A lilac breasted roller looking resplendent
April 8, 2025 at 7:17 PM
A lilac breasted roller looking resplendent
March 27, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Backyard here in New Orleans on Sunday compared to today.
January 21, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Backyard here in New Orleans on Sunday compared to today.
RIP to my goat David Lynch
January 16, 2025 at 7:54 PM
RIP to my goat David Lynch
A terrible picture of a great grey owl in Sax-Zim bog
December 26, 2024 at 9:55 PM
A terrible picture of a great grey owl in Sax-Zim bog
Nothing like the holidays in the frozen north country complete with the worlds largest hockey stick
December 25, 2024 at 11:44 PM
Nothing like the holidays in the frozen north country complete with the worlds largest hockey stick
New paper in J Exp Bio on the heat tolerance of sperm in the brown anole lizard. PhD student Wayne Wang developed a way to measure sperm cell LT50, found that sperm heat tolerance is repeatable across males, and that episodic male heat stress reduces sperm motility 🦎 #anolis
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
December 16, 2024 at 6:26 PM
New paper in J Exp Bio on the heat tolerance of sperm in the brown anole lizard. PhD student Wayne Wang developed a way to measure sperm cell LT50, found that sperm heat tolerance is repeatable across males, and that episodic male heat stress reduces sperm motility 🦎 #anolis
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
...transcriptomes of high and low lead lizards were compared. Few genes (<100) were differentially expressed between groups. But some cool ones pop up, including many ion transporters and hemoglobins (lead is usually bad for oxygen transport). Stay tuned, more to come in this exciting system! Fin.
December 11, 2024 at 3:01 PM
...transcriptomes of high and low lead lizards were compared. Few genes (<100) were differentially expressed between groups. But some cool ones pop up, including many ion transporters and hemoglobins (lead is usually bad for oxygen transport). Stay tuned, more to come in this exciting system! Fin.
...Annelise dosed lizards. No negative effects were found until blood lead was over 10,000 ug/dL. For context, similar thresholds in birds and mammals are usually under 100 ug/dL. These lizards have extreme, if not the most extreme, lead tolerance known. How do they deal with lead? To find out...
December 11, 2024 at 2:56 PM
...Annelise dosed lizards. No negative effects were found until blood lead was over 10,000 ug/dL. For context, similar thresholds in birds and mammals are usually under 100 ug/dL. These lizards have extreme, if not the most extreme, lead tolerance known. How do they deal with lead? To find out...
...Annelise brought field exposed lizards into the lab and measured a bunch of whole-organism traits usually affected by lead, and there were no negative effects (the lizards actually ran faster with more lead!). So what is there blood lead toxicity threshold? To find out...
December 11, 2024 at 2:47 PM
...Annelise brought field exposed lizards into the lab and measured a bunch of whole-organism traits usually affected by lead, and there were no negative effects (the lizards actually ran faster with more lead!). So what is there blood lead toxicity threshold? To find out...
...the highest mean lizard blood lead level at a site was way higher than that of any free-ranging vertebrate that we could find published. The highest individual level (>3000 ug/dL) was also higher than any other that we could find. These values are extreme and should affect the lizards. But...
December 11, 2024 at 2:43 PM
...the highest mean lizard blood lead level at a site was way higher than that of any free-ranging vertebrate that we could find published. The highest individual level (>3000 ug/dL) was also higher than any other that we could find. These values are extreme and should affect the lizards. But...
Annelise measured blood lead levels in lizards across New Orleans and found that soil contamination and lizard blood lead are associated. But more interesting, the lizard lead concentrations are really high. In fact...
December 11, 2024 at 2:38 PM
Annelise measured blood lead levels in lizards across New Orleans and found that soil contamination and lizard blood lead are associated. But more interesting, the lizard lead concentrations are really high. In fact...
New lab logo courtesy of Rou Chen!
December 5, 2024 at 4:22 PM
New lab logo courtesy of Rou Chen!
Dusky salamander and a cottonmouth in Alabama🦎
October 22, 2024 at 5:17 PM
Dusky salamander and a cottonmouth in Alabama🦎
Getting much windier
September 11, 2024 at 6:41 PM
Getting much windier
Francine windspeed update
September 11, 2024 at 3:25 PM
Francine windspeed update