Edwin R Price

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at University of North Texas

The 'membrane pacemaker' hypothesis proposes a biochemical explanation for among-species variation in resting metabolism, based on the positive correlation between membrane docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and metabolic rate. We tested this hypothesis using a novel model, altricial red-winged blackbird nestlings, predicting that the proportion of DHA in...

Endothermy is a conspicuous and important adaptation in birds. Even though juvenile and adult birds are endothermic and maintain a constant, high body temperature by means of internal heat production, they begin life expressing an ectothermic phenotype. Depending on where a species falls along a continuum of maturity at hatching, from precocial to...

Lipid metabolism is central to understanding whole-animal energetics. Reptiles store most excess energy in lipid form, mobilise those lipids when needed to meet energetic demands, and invest lipids in eggs to provide the primary source of energy to developing embryos. Here, I review the mechanisms by which non-avian reptiles store, transport, and u...

Flying vertebrates (birds and bats) are under selective pressure to reduce the size of the gut and the mass of the digesta it carries. Compared with similar-sized nonflying mammals, birds and bats have smaller intestines and shorter retention times. We review evidence that birds and bats have lower spare digestive capacity and partially compensate...

Flying vertebrates have been hypothesized to rely heavily on paracellular absorption of nutrients to compensate for having smaller intestines than non-flyers. We tested this hypothesis in an insectivorous bat (Myotis lucifugus) and two insect-eating rodents (Onychomys leucogaster and Peromyscus leucopus). In intact animals, the fractional absorptio...

In animals, excess energy is stored primarily in fat, and carbohydrates are also stored for short-term demands. Some animals also cache food for later storage. Plants use primarily carbohydrates for storage but may produce fat for seeds and fruit. Fatness may be measured in wild animals to assess health; various techniques exist with tradeoffs in p...

Thyroid hormones are key regulators of development and metabolism in vertebrates. Red-winged blackbirds are an altricial species that exhibit an increase in plasma 3,3’, 5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T 3 ) levels during the first 5 days post-hatch (dph), begin to develop endothermic metabolic responses by 7 dph, and fledge within 10 days of hatching. To b...

Thyroid hormones are key regulators of development and metabolism in vertebrates. During the nestling period, young of altricial species transition from an ectothermic phenotype to an endothermic phenotype. Red-winged blackbirds are an altricial species that exhibit an increase in plasma 3,3’, 5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) levels during the first 5 da...

Migratory birds undergo seasonal changes to muscle biochemistry. Nonetheless, it is unclear to what extent these changes are attributable to the exercise of flight itself versus endogenous changes. Using starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) flying in a wind tunnel, we tested the effects of exercise training, a single bout of flight and dietary lipid compos...

Crude oil is known to induce developmental defects in teleost fish exposed during early life stages (ELSs). While most studies in recent years have focused on cardiac endpoints, evidence from whole-animal transcriptomic analyses and studies with individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) indicate that the developing kidney (i.e., pronephros...

Crude oil has multiple toxic effects in fish, particularly early life stages. Recent transcriptomics studies have highlighted a potential effect on cholesterol homeostasis and biosynthesis, but have not investigated effects on steroid hormones, which are biosynthetically downstream metabolites of cholesterol. We exposed zebrafish (Danio rerio) embr...

Respiratory quotient (RQ) is commonly used to infer which substrates are oxidized, with glucose yielding RQ = 1 and fat normally thought to yield an average of RQ = 0.71. Because fat depot compositions differ among species, we examined how the various common fatty acids affect RQ. RQs ranged from less than 0.7 (e.g., stearic acid) to greater than 0...

In the aquatic environment, ubiquitous natural factors such as ultraviolet light (UV) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) are likely to influence crude oil toxicity. The present study examined the interactive effects of DOC, UV, and DOC–UV co‐exposure on the acute toxicity of Deepwater Horizon crude oil in larval red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Alth...

The failure of the swim bladder to inflate during fish development is a common and sensitive response to exposure to petrochemicals. Here, we review potential mechanisms by which petrochemicals or their toxic components (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; PAHs) may affect swim bladder inflation, particularly during early life stages. Surface films f...

Flying mammals present unique intestinal adaptations, such as lower intestinal surface area than nonflying mammals, and they compensate for this with higher paracellular absorption of glucose. There is no consensus about the mechanistic bases for this physiological phenomenon. The surface area of the small intestine is a key determinant of the abso...

Sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) is a transmembrane pump critical to muscle calcium cycling during contraction, and SERCA has also been proposed as the basis for a non-shivering thermogenesis mechanism in birds. Despite its potential importance to both shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis, the activity of this transporter has r...

The internesting interval separates successive clutches of sea turtle eggs, and its duration varies both among and within species. Here, we review the potential physiological limits to this interval, and develop the hypothesis that desalination capacity limits the internesting interval owing to the requirement for water deposition in eggs. Sea turt...

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an important and abundant fatty acid moiety in vertebrate brains. We measured brain phospholipid composition during development in red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), an altricial species that breeds in aquatic habitats. We also manipulated diet by feeding nestlings fish oil or sunflower oil. Finally, we asses...

The ‘membrane pacemaker’ hypothesis proposes a biochemical explanation for among-species variation in resting metabolism, based on the positive correlation between membrane docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and metabolic rate. We tested this hypothesis using a novel model, altricial red-winged blackbird nestlings, predicting that the proportion of DHA in...

The catabolism of protein from organs and muscles during migratory flight is necessary to produce glucose, key metabolic intermediates, and water, but may have negative effects on flight range and refueling at stopovers. We tested the hypothesis, suggested by previous studies, that birds that eat high-protein insect diets use more protein for fuel...

Abstract We investigated the ability of juvenile American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) to acclimate to temperature with respect to growth rate. We hypothesized that alligators would acclimate to cold temperature by increasing the metabolic capacity of skeletal muscles and the heart. Additionally, we hypothesized that lipid membranes in t...

Altricial bird species, like the red‐winged blackbird, hatch at an immature level of functional maturity with very limited aerobic capacity. Over the next 9 days, red‐winged blackbirds develop increased metabolic capacity and fledge. Metabolic capacity is limited in the early neonate and the ontogeny of the ventilator chemosensitivity is unknown. H...

We made the first measurements of the capacity for paracellular nutrient absorption in intact nectarivorous bats. Leptonycteris yerbabuenae (20 g mass) were injected with or fed inert carbohydrate probes L-rhamnose and D(+)-cellobiose, which are absorbed exclusively by the paracellular route, and 3-O-methyl-D-glucose (3OMD-glucose), which is absorb...

The ontogeny of endothermy in birds is associated with disproportionate growth of thermogenic organs and increased mitochondrial oxidative capacity. However, no similar study has been made of the development of these traits in ectotherms. For comparison, we therefore investigated the metabolism, growth and muscle mitochondrial function in hatchling...

Rapid absorption and elimination of dietary water should be particularly important to flying species and were predicted to vary with the water content of the natural diet. Additionally, high water absorption capacity was predicted to be associated with high paracellular nutrient absorption due to solvent drag. We compared the water absorption rates...

Studies on birds have led to the hypothesis that increased intestinal absorption between enterocytes (paracellular) evolved as a compensation for smaller intestinal size in fliers, which was perhaps selected to minimize the mass of digesta carried. This hypothesis predicts that bats will also exhibit relatively reduced intestinal size and high para...

Water-soluble nutrients are absorbed by the small intestine via transcellular and paracellular mechanisms. Based on a few previous studies, the capacity for paracellular nutrient absorption seems greater in flying mammals than in nonflying mammals, but there has been little investigation of the mechanisms driving this difference. Therefore, we studie...

Flying mammals absorb water‐soluble nutrients (e.g. glucose) at the intestine mainly by the paracellular route [across tight junctions (TJ) between adjacent enterocytes], while non‐flying mammals mainly rely on the transcellular route (across cell membrane using transporter proteins). We predicted that insectivorous bats Tadarida brasiliensis, comp...

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Fat is an important fuel for bats to support high metabolic rates in extended periods of flight. The fatty acid composition of adipose stores could affect whole animal exercise performance, as fatty acids vary in rates of mobilization and oxidation. A key step in the fatty acid oxidation pathway is transporting fatty acids from the cytosol into mit...

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Exercise is known to have a strong effect on neuroproliferation in mammals ranging from rodents to humans. Recent studies have also shown that fatty acids and other dietary supplements can cause an upregulation of neurogenesis. It is not known, however, how exercise and diet interact in their effects on adult neurogenesis. We examined neuronal recr...

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