Douglas D. Gaffin
Joseph Brandt Professor
Presidential Associate Professor, Zoology
Richards Hall 100
405-325-3521
ddgaffin at ou dot edu
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/G/Douglas.D.Gaffin-1/research_home.html
Ph.D., Zoology/Neurophysiology - Oregon State University, 1994
Research:
We are interested in how animals detect, process, and use sensory information to move about their native habitats. We are particularly interested in the neural circuitry that underlies these behaviors. Sand scorpions are our animal of choice because of their clean native habitat, slow walking behavior, and fluorescent cuticle. The chemo-, mechano-, and visual sensory systems of these animals are all approachable to physiological investigation and we use a combination of behavioral, morphological, and electrophysiological techniques to deduce circuitry and neural coding of sensory information in this ancient group of animals.
Selected Publications:
Blass, G. R. C & Gaffin, D. D. (2008) Light wavelength biases of scorpions Anim. Beh., 76: 365-373.
Gaffin, D. D. & Walvoord, M. E. (2004) Scorpion peg sensilla: are they the same or are they different? Proceedings of the 3rd Scorpiology Symposium, American Arachnological Society 28th Annual Meeting, Norman, Oklahoma, 28 June 2004. Euscorpius, 17: 7-15.
Gaffin, D. D. (2002) Electrophysiological analysis of synaptic interactions within peg sensilla of scorpion pectines. Microscopy Research and Technique, 58: 325-334.
Gaffin, D. D. (2001) Electrophysiological evidence of synaptic interactions between sensory neurons in peg sensilla of Centruroides vittatus (Say, 1821) (Scorpiones: Buthidae). In: Fet V, Selden PA, editors. Scorpions 2001. In memoriam Gary A. Polis. Burnham Beeches, Bucks: British Arachnological Society. pp 325-330.
Gaffin, D. D. & Brownell, P. H. (2001) Chemosensory behavior and physiology. In: Brownell PH, Polis GA, editors. Scorpion Biology and Research. Oxford University Press. pp 184-203.
Camp, E. A. & Gaffin, D. D. (1999) Escape behavior mediated by negative phototaxis in the scorpion Paruroctonus utahensis (Scorpiones, Vaejovidae). J. Arachnology, 27: 679-684.
Gaffin, D. D. & Brownell, P. H. (1997) Electrophysiological evidence of synaptic interaction within chemosensory peg sensilla of scorpion pectines. J. Comp. Physiol. A, 181: 301-307.
Gaffin, D. D. & Brownell, P. H. (1997) Response properties of chemosensory peg sensilla on the pectines of scorpions. J. Comp. Physiol. A, 181: 291-300.