Ectothermic vertebrates are ideal organisms to investigate thermal constraints on physiological processes, as their body temperature can be manipulated by changing environmental temperatures. My projects have investigated thermoregulation in lizards and amphibians. This includes investigations of how physiological thermal tolerance scales with body size and oxygen availability across several species of Sceloporus lizards in collaboration with the PERL lab at Cal Poly, and the influence of seasonal acclimation on thermal tolerance, preference, and performance in chameleons in collaboration with the USDA Wildlife Services Florida Field Station. Recently, I am wrapping up a project investigating the consequences of thermoregulation on the pathogenicity of chytridiomycosis in plethodontid salamanders in collaboration with the Longo Lab at University of Florida. Through this project, we evaluated trade-offs between thermoregulation, metabolism, and functional immune expression during infection with an ecologically relevant pathogen combining fieldwork, experimental manipulation, and functional genomic techniques. This project also involved a large community science participation effort through Project Cybermander on the Zooniverse platform.
I am also interested in how thermal physiology scales up to landscape levels by assessing the utility of different thermal traits in species distribution modelling and climate forecasting approaches. I have recently used island-based species that are introduced to the mainland USA as case studies to explore how plasticity in thermal traits influences model predictions.
I am also interested in how thermal physiology scales up to landscape levels by assessing the utility of different thermal traits in species distribution modelling and climate forecasting approaches. I have recently used island-based species that are introduced to the mainland USA as case studies to explore how plasticity in thermal traits influences model predictions.
Publications
Claunch N, Goodman C, Guralnick R, Reed R, Romagosa CM, Taylor EN
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
AmphiTherm: a comprehensive database of amphibian thermal tolerance and preference
P. Pottier, R. Oh, P. Pollo, A. Rivera-Villanueva, Y. Yang, S. Varon, A. Longo, S. Burkey, H-Y. Lin, J. Valdebenito, T. Amano, S. Drobniak, S. Nakagawa, N. Claunch
Scientific Data, vol. 12, 2025
N. Claunch, C. Goodman, B. Kluever, R. Guralnick, C. Romagosa
Scientific Reports, vol. 13, 2023
Snap-freezing in the Field: Effect of Sample Holding Time on Performance of Bactericidal Assays
Natalie M Claunch, Cynthia J Downs, Laura A Schoenle, Samantha J Oakey, Teresa Ely, Christina Romagosa, Christopher W Briggs
Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2022 Mar, pp. icac0007
Body size impacts critical thermal maximum measurements in lizards.
Claunch NM, Nix E, Royal AE, Burgos LP, Corn M, DuBois PM, Ivey KN, King E, Rucker KA, Shea TK, Stepanek J, Vansdadia S, Taylor EN
Journal of Experimental Zoology A, vol. 335, 2020, pp. 96-107
Effects of oxygen on responses to heating in two lizard species along an elevational gradient
PM DuBois, TK Shea, NM Claunch, EN Taylor
Journal of Thermal Biology , 68B, 2017, pp. 170-176
Oxygen concentration affects upper thermal tolerance in a terrestrial vertebrate
T Shea, M DuBois, N Claunch, N Murphey, K Rucker, R Brewster, E Taylor
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology , vol. 199, 2016, pp. 87-94