NPB Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior |
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| Marilyn Ramenofsky |
| Adjunct Professor 104 Zoology Field House 530.752.3004 mramenofs (at) ucdavis (dot) edu |
| Degrees: B.S., Pomona College, 1969 M.Sc, University of Texas, Austin, 1972 PhD., University of Washington, Seattle, 1982 |
| Honors Awards: NSF Travel Award to attend 19th Int’l Ethology Conference, Tolouse, France, 1985 University of Washington Travel Award to attend 24th Int'l Ethological Congress, Honolulu, Hawaii August 1995 Office of the Dean, University of Washington award for teaching equipment 1998. Office of the Dean, University of Washington award for teaching equipment 2001. Howard Hughes Award for development of Ingraham High School Urban Ecology Project 2002 |
| Professional Affiliations: Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) - Divisions of Animal Behavior and Comparative Endocrinology Member of the Standing Committee of the International Ornithologists Union Member of the Board of Directors of Cooper Ornithological Society U.S. Olympians Association |
| Research Interests: I am fascinated by the interplay of environmental signals and the physiological and behavioral expressions of organisms, primarily those of migratory birds. As migration is the movement to and away from areas where organisms breed, each trip is composed of multiple steps or substages that involve regulation of the neuroendocrine, endocrine, metabolic, and behavioral systems. During these trips, birds are exposed to a wide range environmental conditions that include photoperiod, atmospheric and climatic, food availability, predation and the unpredictable. Thus, in order for migrants to be successful they rely on environmental information to cue progression through each substage. Migrants therefore can serve as an effective model for studying how organisms rely on environmental conditions and respond to change. My lab has focused on the effects of photoperiod, lunar condition, food availability and stressors on migratory specific characteristics that include migratory behavior (migratory restlessness, feeding, locomotor activity), alterations in tissues that fuel and power migratory flight (adipose and muscle tissues) and measures of the endocrine and metabolic systems. Other studies have included vocal communication of nocturnal migrants, role of experience and geomagnetic field on orientation in adult and juvenile migrants, endogenous rhythms and migratory behavior, effects of prolonged migratory restlessness on the endocrine and metabolic systems. |
| Selected Publications: Wingfield, J.C., and Ramenofsky, M. (1997) Corticosterone and facultative dispersal in unpredictable events. Ardea. 85:155-166. Romero, L.M., Ramenofsky, M., and Wingfield, J.C. (1997) Season and migration alters the corticosterone response to capture and handling in an arctic migrant, the White-crowned Sparrow ( Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). Comp. Biochem and Physiol. 116C:171-177. Piersma, T. and Ramenofsky, M. (1998) Long-term decreases of corticosterone in captive migrant shorebirds that maintain seasonal mass and moult cycles. J Avian Biology 29:97-104. Wingfield, J.C., Maney, D.L., Bruener, C.W., Jacobs, J.D., Lynn, S., Ramenofsky, M., and Richardson, R.D. (1998) Ecological bases of hormone-behavior interactions; the “emergency life history stage”. Amer. Zool. 38:191-206. Wingfield, J.C., and Ramenofsky, M. (1999) Hormones and behavioral ecology of stress. In “Stress Phyisology” (P. Balm, ed.), Sheffield University Press, Sheffield, U.K.pp 1-51. Wingfield, J.C., Jacobs, J.D., Soma, K., Maney, D.L., Hunt, K., Wisti-Peterson., D., Meddle, S., Ramenofsky, M., and Sullivan, K. (1999) Testosterone, aggression, and communication: ecological bases of endocrine phenomena. In “The biology of communication” (M. Konishi and M. Hauser, eds.) M.I.T. Press, Cambridge. Ramenofsky, M., Savard, R., and Greenwood, M.R.C. (1999) Seasonal and diel transitions in physiology and behavior in the migratory dark-eyed junco. Comp Biochem Physiol A 122:385-397. Meddle SL, Foidart A, Wingfield JC, Ramenofsky,and M, Balthazart (1999) Effects of sexual interactions with a male on fos-like immunoreactivity in the female quail brain. J Neuroendocrinol 11(10):771-84 Piersma, T., Reneerkens, J., and Ramenofsky, M. (2000) Basal corticosterone peaks in shorebirds with maximal energy stores for migration: a general preparatory mechanism for rapid behavioral and metabolic transitions? Gen Comp Endocrinol. 120:118-126 Hiebert, S.M., Ramenofsky, M., Salvante, K, Wingfield, J.C., and Gass, C.L. (2000) Noninvasive methods for measuring and manipulating corticosterone in hummingbirds, Gen Comp Endocrinol. 120:235-247 Hiebert, S.M.,Salvante, K., Ramenofsky, M., and Wingfield, J.C. (2000) Corticosterone and nocturnal torpor in the rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus), Gen Comp Endocrinol. 120:220-234. Reneerkens, J., Morrison, R.I., Ramenofsky, M., Piersma, T., Wingfield, J.C. (2002) Baseline and stress-induced levels of corticosterone after a long migratory flight, preparation for breeding and during incubation of a high arctic breeding shorebird (Red Knot, Calidris canutus). Physiol. Biochem. Zool. 75(2):200-208. Landys, M.M., Ramenofsky, M., Piersma, T., Jukema, J., Castricum Ringing Group, Wingfield, J.C. (2002) Baseline and stress-induced plasma corticosterone during long-distance migration in the bar-tailed godwit, Limos lapponica. Physiol. Biochem. Zool. 75(1):101-110, Reneerkens, J., Ramenofsky, M., Piersma, T. (2002) An experimental test of the relationship between temporal variablity of feeding opportunities and baseline levels of corticosterone in a shorebird. J. Exp. Zool. 293:81-88. Ramenofsky, M., R. Agatsuma, M. Barga, R. Cameron, J. Harm, M. Landys, T. Ramfar (2003) Migratory behavior: new insights from captive studies. In Berhold P, Gwinner, E, Sonnenschein, E (eds), Avian Migration, Springer, Berlin, pp 97-112 Landys, M.M., T. Piersma, M. Ramenofsky, and J.C. Wingfield. (2004) The low-affinity glucocorticoid receptor regulates behavior and energy metabolism in the migratory red knot Calidris canutus islandica. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 77(4):658-668 Landys, M.M., M. Ramenofsky, and J.C. Wingfield. (2004) The low-affinity glucocorticoid receptor regulates feeding and lipid breakdown in the migratory white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii. Journal of Experimental Biology, 207:143-154. Landys, M.M., J.C. Wingfield, and M. Ramenofsky (2004) Plasma corticosterone increases during migratory restlessness in the captive white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii, Hormones and Behavior 46:574-581 Landys, M.M., Piersma, T., Guglielmo, C.G., Jukema, J., M. Ramenofsky, and J.C. Wingfield, (2005) Metabolic profile of long-distance migratory flight and stopover in a shorebird. Proc. Royal Society, 272:295-302 Ramenofsky, M. and Wingfield, J.C. (2006). Physiological conflicts in migrants: the transition between migration and breeding, J of Ornithology, 147:135-145. Agatsuma R and Ramenofsky M (2006) Migratory behaviour of captive white-crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii differs during autumn and fall migration, Behaviour, 143(10):1219-1240. Ramenofsky, M and Wingfield, J.C. (2007) Regulation of migration. Bioscience 57(2): 135-143. Bonier, F, Martin, PR, Jensen, JP, Butler, LK, Ramenofsky, M, and Wingfield, JC. (2007) Pre-Bonier, F, Martin, PR, Jensen, JP, Butler, LK, Ramenofsky, M, and Wingfield, JC. (2007) Pre-migratory life history stages of juvenile arctic birds: costs, constraints and tradeoffs. Ecology 88(11):2729-2735. Thorup, Kasper, Bisson, Isabelle-A., Bowlin, Melissa S., Holland, Richard A., Wingfield, John C., Ramenofsky, Marilyn, and Wikelski, Martin. (2007) Evidence for a navigational map stretching across the continental U.S. in a migratory songbird. PNAS 104:18115-18119. Lynn, Sharon, E., Egar, Joseph M., Walker, Brian G., Sperry, Todd S., and Ramenofsky, Marilyn. (2007) Fish on Prozac: a simple, noninvasive physiology laboratory investigating the mechanisms of aggressive behavior in Betta splendens. Advances in Physiology Education 31:358-363. Coverdill, A.J, Bentley, G.E. and Ramenofsky, M. (2008) Circadian and masking control of migratory restlessness in Gambel’s White-crowend sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii), Journal of Biological Rhythms 23(1):59-68. Ramenofsky, M., Agatsuma, R., and Ramfar, T. (2008) Environmental conditions affect behavior of captive, migratory White-crowned Sparrows, Condor (in press) Ramenofsky, M., Moffat, J., and Bentley G.E. (2008) Corticosterone and migratory behaviour of captive White-crowned Sparrows, International proceedings of ICA-CPB, Pressures of Life: Molecules to Migration, Maasai, Mara, Kenya, July 2008 (in press). Kumar, V., Wingfield, J.C., Dawson, A., Ramenofsky, M., Rani, S. and, Bartell, P. Biological clocks and regulation of seasonal reproduction and migration in birds. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology (in press). |
| Courses Taught: Animal Migrations, Comparative Vertebrate Reproduction, Comparative Endocrinology |