Giulia Rossi, PhD

Research Interests

As an animal physiologist, I am deeply interested in understanding the innovative solutions that animals use to overcome life’s most extreme challenges. I routinely integrate behavioural, physiological, and biochemical approaches so that my lab-based studies will translate into ecological contexts.

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My current postdoctoral research in Dr. Alex Little's lab at McMaster University explores the mitochondrial adaptations that allow sea anemones to tolerate extreme environmental stressors in the aquatic environment, including severe hypoxia and toxic hydrogen sulphide. My postdoctoral research in Dr. Ken Welch's lab at the University of Toronto explored the mechanisms that allow hummingbirds to fatten sufficiently before embarking on their fall migration from Canada to Central America. My work also explored the metabolic physiology of other animals with highly specialized diets, including bumblebees (nectivores), and vampire bats (sanguivores). My PhD research in Dr. Patricia Wright's lab at the University of Guelph was similarly focused on metabolic physiology. I studied a unique group of fishes that move between aquatic and terrestrial habitats (i.e., amphibious fishes), and investigated how their bodies change to facilitate survival in these two dramatically different environments.