RICHARD FRANK MODLIN

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Crustaceans, their ecophysiology, structure and function of gravity, olfactory and visual receptors; behavioral responses to pheromones and other water borne compounds; identification and purification of compounds affecting chemoreceptors; calcium dynamics relative to statocyst development and function; sublethal effects of pollutants, systematics and evolution of peracarideans, especially the Mysidacea.

Dr. Richard F. Modlin, a Professor of Biological Sciences at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, is professionally a marine and freshwater ecologist. He received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Wisconsin and his doctorate from the University of Connecticut. For the past 20 years his research on tropical and subtropical crustaceans has taken him from Alabama to the Caribbean Islands, Belize, Mexico, Kenya, Sychelle Islands and the Island of Cyprus. As a Research Fellow with the Smithsonian Institution he has worked closely with Curators at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History on the Caribbean Barrier Reef System and the rain forest community of the Cockscomb Basin in Belize. Dr. Modlin spent a year in Sweden as a Fulbright Research Scholar studying the structure and function of chemoreceptor, gravity receptors and compound eyes. He expanded his work on gravity receptors into an experiment that was flown on two recent NASA Space Shuttle missions. Dr. Modlin teaches courses at UAH in Invertebrate Zoology, Physiological Ecology, Fisheries Biology, Limnology, and Aquatic Arthropod Biology in addition to introductory courses in biology. He has taught Marine Biology, Marine Invertebrate Biology, and Marine Ecology at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Dr. Modlin considers himself a naturalist, writer and photographer. In his free time he can be found, with his camera and notebook in hand, birdwatching, SCUBA diving, or just enjoying the smells and sounds of a seashore, forest or desert. He has published extensively both in scientific journals and in popular press magazines. In the past Dr. Modlin has assisted in the UAH SCUBA program and was the Coral Reef Specialist on a UAH sponsored tour to the Belizian Barrier Reef.

EXPERIENCE:

Aquatic Biologist,

Wisconsin DNR, 1968.

Research Assistant,

Center for Great Lakes Studies, UW-Milwaukee, 1968-69.

Research Associate,

Center for Great Lakes Studies, UW-Milwaukee, 1969-70.

Fishery Supervisor,

Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection, 1970-72.

Assistant Prof. of Biology,

Biological Sciences, Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), 1976-82.

Visiting Prof. of Marine Science,

Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium (MESC), Dauphin Island Sea Lab, 1979-Present.

Research Associate,

MESC, Sabbatical Leave, 1984-85.

Associate Prof. of Biology,

UAH, 1982-91.

Chairman,

Environmental Sciences Program, UAH, 1986- 91.

Interim Chairman,

Biological Sciences, UAH, 1988-90.

Visiting Scientist,

Structural and Fuctional Zoology, Univ. of Lund, Sweden, 1990.

Professor of Biological Science,

UAH, 1991-Present.

Director of the Honors Program,

UAH, 1996

Field Experience

• Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, Alabama, 1977- present.
• Smithsonian Institution Coral Reef Field Station, Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, 1985 - Present.
• U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1984-present.
• Cape Kennedy, Florida, Space Shuttle Flight Missions, 1995 & 1996.
• East Africa, Kenya and Seychelle Islands, 6 weeks of crustacean collecting, 1987.
• University of Puerto Rico Marine Biological Station, Mayagueze Island, La Parguera, P.R., 3 weeks, 1985.
• Grand Cayman Island, B.W.I. Several mysid collecting trip between 1984 to present.
• Newfoundharbor Marine Institute, Big Pine Key, FL. November, 1984.
• Marine Research Laboratory, Univ. of Connecticut, Noank, Ct. 1974-76.
• Bermuda Biological Station, St. George, Bermuda, May 1968.
• Center for Great Lakes Studies, Univ. of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, 1965-69.

RECENT SCIENTIFIC AND POPULAR PRESS PUBLICATIONS

1991 Modlin, R.F. Paranebalia belizensis a new species from the shallow waters off Belize, Central America (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Leptostraca). Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 104: 603-612.

1992 Dardeau, M., R.F. Modlin, W. Schroeder, J. Stout. Estuaries. In, C.T. Hackney, S.M. Adams & W.A. Martin (eds.), Biodiversity of Southeastern United States/Aquatic Communities, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 615-744.

1992 Modlin, R.F. Population structure, distribution, life cycle and reproductive strategy of Spilocuma watlingi Omholt and Heard, 1979 and S. salomani Watling, 1977 (Cumacea: Bodotriidae) from coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Northeast Gulf Science, 12(2): 83-91.

1992 Modlin, R.F. Skimming for Dinner. Highlights for Children.

1993 Modlin, R.F. Population parameters, life cycle and feeding of Mysidium columbiae (Zimmer) in the water surrounding a Belizian mangrove cay (Curstacea: Mysidacea). P.S.Z.N.I. Marine Ecology, 14: 23-34.

1993 Alred, P.A., F. Tjerneld & R.F. Modlin. Partition of ecdysteroids using temperature-induced phase separation. Jour. of Chromatography, 628: 205-214.

1994 Nilsson, Dan-E. & R.F. Modlin. A mysid shrimp carrying a pair of binoculars. Jour. Exp. Biol. 189: 213-236.

1994 Modlin, R.F., P.A. Alred & F. Tjerneld. Utilization of temperature-induced phase separation for the purification of ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone from spinach. Jour. of Chromatography A, 668: 229-236.

1995 Modlin, R.F. Together In the Shallows. Sea Frontiers, Winter Issue.

1996 Modlin, R.F. Skimming along with the black skimmer. Birdwatcher's Digest. July/August Issue.

1996 Modlin, R.F. Contributions to the ecology of Paranebalia belizensis Modlin from the waters off central Belize, Central America. Journal of Crustacean Biology, In press.

1997 Modlin, R. F. & A. J. Froelich. Influence of temperature, salinity and weight on the oxygen consumption of a laboratory population of Americamysis bahia (Crustacea: Mysidacea). Journal of Crustacean Biology, In Press.