Doctoral Student
CHRISTINE GOFORTH
Advisor:
Bob SmithContact Info:
Forbes 424
(520)621-4629
chrisgof@ag.arizona.edu
Research and Interests:
My work focuses on egg respiratory physiology and morphology of giant water bugs (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae). Belostomatids are generally well known to entomologists because the males care for the eggs throughout development; such paternal parental care is very rare among insects. In the belostomatine linage, the female lays her eggs on the back of her mate, who then aerates the eggs through a variety of behaviors and frequent trips to the surface (back brooding). In the lethocerine lineage, the female lays her eggs above the water line on emergent vegetation and her mate carries water to the brood until the nymphs eclose (emergent brooding). It is thought that the eggs of belostomatids are too large to obtain enough oxygen directly from the water they live in and that brooding evolved to compensate for this deficiency. My work thus far has centered around this problem and has involved measuring the metabolic rates of eggs under different treatments, direct measurements of oxygen partial pressures inside the eggs, detailed morphological examination of the respiratory structures and their distribution across the chorion, and determining how long the eggs are able to survive unattended underwater.
