Dept. of Biological Sciences

Patricia J. DeCoursey

Distinguished Professor
Ph.D., 1959, University of Wisconsin
803-777-3934
dcoursey@biol.sc.edu

Behavioral Ecology, Biological Rhythms

Dr. DeCoursey's research centers on chronobiology, the study of internal timing mechanisms for animal rhythms related to environmental cycles such as tidal cycles, daily solar cycles, or annual cycles. Neural pacemakers or "living clocks" impart an adaptive time structure to organisms through the synchronization of the internal neural timing component with environmental time by specific synchronizing agents especially the solar day-night cycle. Dr. DeCoursey's research emphasizes the physiological, behavioral, and ecological aspects of mammalian daily (circadian) rhythmicity. Her work includes a comparative survey of the distribution of "biological clocks" in terrestrial vertebrates as well as in marine crustaceans. Physiological studies have included retinal function relative to animal circadian rhythms, as well as the transplantation of neural circadian pacemakers in rodents. Ecological and behavioral studies have addressed the adaptive value of circadian clocks. Can free-living, wild species of rodents such as chipmunks, antelope squirrels, or golden-mantled ground squirrels survive in natural habitat without their neural circadian pacemaker? What impact does deletion of the pacemaker have on time dependent functions such as the prolonged hibernation of ground squirrels? These questions are being addressed by means of state-of-the-art radio telemetry and implanted micro data loggers for tracking survival and behavior of ground squirrels in wilderness habitat over their lifetimes. Experimental studies of rodent biological clocks hold out hope for understanding and correcting human chronobiological dysfunctions such as jetlag, shift worker sleep problems, and insomnia of the aged.

Selected Publications:

DeCoursey, P.J. (2004) Diversity of function of SCN pacemakers in behavior and ecology of 3 species of sciurid rodents. Biological Rhythm Research, In Press.

DeCoursey, P.J. (2004) The role of the suprachiasmatic pacemaker (SCN) in energy expenditure during hibernation of golden-mantled ground squirrels. Life in the Cold, In Press.

DeCoursey, P.J. (2003) Author of seven chapters in Chronobiology: Biological Timekeeping, Edited by J. C. Dunlap, J. L. Loros, and P. J. DeCoursey. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA.

DeCoursey, P.J. (2001) Early research highlights at the Max-Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology, Erling-Andechs and their influence on chronobiology. In: Zeitgebers, Entrainment and Masking of the Circadian System, K. Honma and S. Honma (eds), pp 55-74. Hokkaido University Press, Sapporo, Japan.

DeCoursey, P.J., J.K. Walker, and S.A. Smith. (2000) A circadian pacemaker in free-living chipmunks: essential for survival? J. Comp. Physiol. A 186: 1699-180.

DeCoursey, P. J., J. R. Krulas, G. Mele, and D. C. Holley. (1997) Circadian performance of suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN)-lesioned antelope ground squirrels in a desert enclosure. Physiol. Behav., 62: 1099-1108.

DeCoursey, P. J., and J. R. Krulas. (1998). Behavior of SCN-lesioned chipmunks in natural habitat: a pilot study. J. Biol Rhythms, 13:229-244.

DeCoursey, P.J., S. Pius, C. Sandlin, D. Wethey, and J. Schull. (1998) Relationship of circadian temperature and activity rhythms in two rodent species. Physiol. and Behav. 65: 457-463.

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