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William B. Stickle Jr.
Department of Biological Sciences
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-1715
zostic@lsu.edu

Research Interests:
Environmental Physiology of Marine Invertebrates
Full CV

 

 

Education: 

B. S. Slippery Rock State College – 1965 – Biology
M.S. University of South Dakota -1967 – Zoology
Univ. of Alaska, Summer Institute – 1967- Oceanography
Univ. Washington, Friday Harbor Labs 1968-69-Research
Ph.D. University of Saskatchewan, Regina – 1970 – Biology

Personal Statement:
I have taught Environmental Physiology, Marine Communities, and Human Physiology at LSU since August 1972. My research is on the relationship between environmental factor gradients and animal tolerance and performance. I have conducted research and published 87 papers from studies which were conducted on animals from the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coast of North America, and England. I enjoy teaching, research, exercise, the outdoors, my Church, my friends, and watching LSU football and baseball as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penn State football. I am really excited about teaching Marine Biology in southeast Alaska. I have enjoyed an extremely happy marriage to Versa for 44 years and have three children (Sarah, Martha, and William) and four grandchildren (Amelia, Jake, Parker, and Timothy) who also live in Baton Rouge.

Research Statement:
Marine fauna are exposed to intensity gradients of environmental factors on a diurnal and seasonal basis which limit their distribution and alter their physiological capacity to adapt. We study the relationship between seasonal and diurnal variation in natural and anthropogenic environmental factor gradients and animal tolerance, physiological adaptation, and behavioral interactions in the northern Gulf of Mexico and in the northwestern Pacific coast of North America. Recent and future research will focus on the effects of seasonal and diurnal salinity and temperature gradients on the performance of decapod crabs, gastropods, and sea stars. We are also studying the Effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil Leak on shellfish in coastal Louisiana. Techniques used include the determination of energy budgets (Scope for growth), RNA:DNA ratios, aerobic/anaerobic transitions, interactions among species and synthesis of intracellular compatible osmolytes during the adaptation to freezing.