Marion Preest

Interim Dean, Pritzker Family Foundation Professor of Biology
Professor of Biology

Email: mpreest@kecksci.claremont.edu
Office: Keck Science Center 11
Phone: 909-607-8014
Office Hours: Tuesday, 2-4
Web Site: https://faculty.jsd.claremont.edu/mpreest

Educational Background:

B.Sc. (Hons), University of Otago, New Zealand
M.S., Cornell University
Ph.D: Cornell University

Courses Taught:

• Comparative Physiology (BIO 132)
• Vertebrate Physiology (BIO 131) – Lab only
• Intro Bio – BIO 43L
• Intro Bio – BIO 44L
• Concepts in Biology – BIO 57L
• Animal Physiological Ecology (BIO 166)
• Herpetology (BIO 187)

Research Interests:

• Comparative animal physiology
• Animal energetics and metabolism
• Osmoregulatory physiology of hummingbirds
• Ionoregulation and acid-tolerance in fish
• Muscle physiology

Selected Publications

1. Stanhope, E., L. Ziegler, T. Haque, L. Le, M. Vinces, G. K. Davis, A. Zieffler, P. Brodfuehrer, M. Preest, J. Belisky, C. Umbanhowar, Jr., P. J. Overvoorde. (2017). Development of a Biological Science Quantitative Reasoning Exam (BioSQuaRE). CBE Life Sciences 16, DOI:10.1187/cbe.16-10-0301.
2. Preest, M.R., M.J. Ward, T. Poon, and J.W. Hermanson. (2016). Chemical prey luring in Jackson’s chameleons. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 89(2): 110-117.
3. Mendelson, J.R., III, J.B. Pramuk, R. Gagliardo, A. Pessier, B.B. Rothermel, K.C. Zippel, C. Bevier, M.R. Preest, and B. Crother. (2009). Considerations and recommendations for Raising Live Amphibians in Classrooms. Herpetological Review 40: 142-144.
4. Mendelson, J.R., III, J.B. Pramuk, R. Gagliardo, A. Pessier, B.B. Rothermel, K.C. Zippel, C. Bevier, M.R. Preest, and B. Crother. (2009). Amphibian Recommendations. Science and Children 46(8): 8.
5.  Preest, M.R. and A. Cree. (2008). Corticosterone treatment has subtle effects on thermoregulatory behavior and raises metabolic rate in the New Zealand common gecko, Hoplodactylus maculatus. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 81(5): 641-650.
6. Preest, M.R. and A. Cree. (2008). Corticosterone treatment has subtle effects on thermoregulatory behavior and raises metabolic rate in the New Zealand common gecko, Hoplodactylus maculatus. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 81 (5): 641-650.
7. Preest, M.R., C.L. Tyrrell, and A. Cree. (2005). ACTH-induced stress response during pregnancy in a viviparous gecko: No observed effect on offspring quality. Journal of Experimental Zoology 303A: 823-835.
8. Preest, M.R., R. J. Gonzalez, and R. Wilson. (2005). A pharmacological examination of Na+ and Cl- transport in two species of freshwater fish. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 78: 259-272.
9. Cree, A, C.L. Tyrrell, M.R. Preest, D. Thorburn, and L.J. Guillette, Jr. (2003). Protecting embryos from stress: corticosterone effects and the corticosterone response to capture and confinement during pregnancy in a live-bearing lizard (Hoplodactylus maculatus). General and Comparative Endocrinology 134: 316-329.
   Abstract – Hormones in the embryonic environment, including those of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, have profound effects on development in eutherian mammals. However, little is known about their effects in reptiles that have independently evolved viviparity. We investigated whether exogenous corticosterone affected embryonic development in the viviparous gecko Hoplodactylus maculatus, and whether pregnant geckos have a corticosterone response to capture and confinement that is suppressed relative to that in non-pregnant (vitellogenic) females and males. Corticosterone implants (5 mg, slow-release) administered to females in mid-pregnancy caused a large elevation of corticosterone in maternal plasma (P<0.001), probable reductions in embryonic growth and development (P=0.069–0.073), developmental abnormalities and eventual abortions. Cool temperature produced similar reductions in embryonic growth and development (P0.036 cf. warm controls), but pregnancies were eventually successful. Despite the potentially harmful effects of elevated plasma corticosterone, pregnant females did not suppress their corticosterone response to capture and confinement relative to vitellogenic females, and both groups of females had higher responses than males. Future research should address whether lower maternal doses of corticosterone produce non-lethal effects on development that could contribute to phenotypic plasticity. Corticosterone implants also led to increased basking in pregnant females (P<0.001), and basal corticosterone in wild geckos (independent of reproductive condition) was positively correlated with body temperature (P<0.001). Interactions between temperature and corticosterone may have broad significance to other terrestrial ectotherms, and body temperature should be considered as a variable influencing plasma corticosterone concentrations in all future studies on reptiles.
   [Article – URL not found]
10. Preest, M.R. and F.H. Pough. (2003). Effects of body temperature and hydration state on organismal performance of toads, Bufo americanus. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology  76: 229-239.
    Abstract – Temperature and humidity are dominant environmental variables affecting performance of nocturnal, terrestrial amphibians. Toads are frequently active at body temperatures (Tb) and hydration states (HS) that yield suboptimal performance. We investigated the combined effects of Tb and HS on feeding, locomotion, and metabolism of Bufo americanus. More toads responded to the presence of prey when fully hydrated than when dehydrated, and times to orient to prey, maneuver around a barrier, and reach prey were less in hydrated than in dehydrated animals. Time to capture prey decreased with increasing Tb in fully hydrated, but not dehydrated, toads, and hydrated animals caught prey more rapidly than did dehydrated animals. Distance traveled in 5 min and aerobic scope were affected by Tb. Generally, individuals that performed well in the feeding experiments at a particular Tb and HS also performed well at a different Tb and HS. The same was true for distance traveled and aerobic scope. However, within combinations of Tb and HS, correlations between performance variables were minimal. Specialization of a particular variable resulting in high performance at a certain Tb and HS does not appear to exact a cost in terms of performance at a different Tb and HS.
    Article – URL not found
11. Preest, M.R., D. Folk, and C.A. Beuchat. (2003). Decomposition of nitrogenous compounds by intestinal bacteria in hummingbirds. The Auk 120: 1091-1101.
12. Meyer, V.M., M.R. Preest, and S.M. Lochetto. (2002). Physiology of original and regenerated lizard tails. Herpetologica 58: 75-86.
13. Beuchat, C.A., M.R. Preest, and E.J. Braun. (1999). Glomerular and medullary architecture in the kidney of Anna’s hummingbird. Journal of Morphology 240: 95-100.
    Abstract – Hummingbirds have rates of water turnover that are among the highest of any bird, consuming up to five times their body mass in nectar each day. To determine if the processing of these extraordinary volumes of water is associated with structural specializations in the kidney, we examined the renal morphology of Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna) using scanning electron microscopy of vascular and tubular casts. The glomerular tufts are simple, containing a single, unbranched capillary that is spiraled or folded back on itself only one or two times. There is no evidence that nectarivory in this species is associated with a relative increase in the size of the glomeruli. The medullary cones are small, containing only a few loops of Henle and collecting ducts. The vasa recta form a complex network of branching and anastomosing capillaries. In this nectarivore, the structures necessary to produce urine that is hyperosmotic to plasma are poorly developed or absent, which is consistent with urine osmolalities that are uniformly low.
    [Article – URL not found]
14. Gonzalez, R.J. and M.R. Preest. (1999). Ionoregulatory specializations for exceptional tolerance of ion-poor acidic waters in the neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi). Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 72: 156-163.
    Abstract – To better understand how fish are able to inhabit dilute waters of low pH, we examined ionoregulation in exceptionally acid-tolerant neon tetras (Paracheirodon innesi), which are native to the ion-poor, acidic Rio Negro, Amazon. Overall ion balance was unaffected by 2-wk exposure to pH 4.0 and 3.5. Measurements of unidirectional Na+ fluxes during exposure to pH 3.5 showed that tetras experienced only a mild, ionic disturbance of short duration (24 h) as a result of a stimulation of Na+ efflux. At pH 3.25, Na+ efflux was almost fourfold greater (all fish died within 68 h). At both pHs, active Na+ uptake was not inhibited, and in fact, at pH 3.5, uptake was stimulated. Kinetic analysis of Na+ uptake at pH 6.5 and 3.5 produced virtually identical low Km values and high maximum-transport values. These results confirmed the pH insensitivity of the uptake mechanism and revealed a mechanism well designed to operate in the dilute, acidic waters of the Rio Negro. Na+ influx was only mildly sensitive to amiloride (a Na+ channel blocker), which, along with the pH insensitivity, suggests that Na+ uptake may occur by a novel mechanism. Na+ efflux was reduced by addition of Ca2+ to the test water at pH 6.5, but the effect disappeared at pH 3.5. Exposure to LaCl3 (a strong Ca2+ displacer) also stimulated Na+ efflux. These results suggest that Ca2+ plays a role in determining branchial ion permeability at high pH but that, at low pH, where Na+ efflux is stimulated, alternate, Ca2+-independent mechanisms are employed to control Na+ efflux.
    [Article – URL not found]
15. Preest, M.R. and C.A. Beuchat. (1997). Ammonia excretion by hummingbirds. Nature 386: 561-562.
16. Pough, F.H., M.R. Preest, and M.H. Fusari. (1997). Prey-handling and the evolutionary ecology of sand-swimming lizards (Lerista: Scincidae). Oecologia 112: 351-361.
    Abstract – Fossorial lizards differ in morphology from their surface-dwelling relatives. The Australian sphenomorphine skink genus Ctenotus consists of surface-dwelling species, and is closely related to the genus Lerista, which includes both surface-dwelling and fossorial species. Sand-swimming represents the derived condition and has evolved independently in several lineages of Lerista. The heads of lizards in the two genera differ in shape (blunt snout for Ctenotus versus wedge-shaped for Lerista) and in length relative to the body (approximately 20% of snout-vent length for Ctenotus versus 12% for sand-swimming Lerista). Do these specializations affect the sizes or types of prey that can be consumed by Lerista? We compared prey-handling by Ctenotus and Lerista to correlate morphological differences with differences in prey-handling ability, and to distinguish the effects of snout shape and head length. Feeding trials included three categories of insect prey that the lizards normally eat: soft-bodied larvae (Lepidoptera), hard-bodied larvae (Coleoptera), and roaches (Blatoidea). In comparisons based on the mass of a prey item relative to the mass of a lizard, Lerista had longer handling times for all prey categories and were limited to smaller prey than were Ctenotus. However, when comparisons were based on the length of prey relative to the length of a lizard’s head, Lerista ate some elongate prey as fast or faster than did Ctenotus, and both genera successfully swallowed prey more than twice the length of their own head. Thus, the differences in prey-handling performance of Ctenotus and Lerista probably result from the fact that Lerista have a relatively shorter head than Ctenotus. All Lerista species, surface-dwelling and fossorial, have short heads compared to primitive sphenomorphine lizards. Fossorial species of Lerista have elongate trunks, and consequently their heads are shorter in proportion to trunk length than those of surface-dwelling Lerista. However, most fossorial species of Lerista are longer and heavier than any of their surface-dwelling congeners, and the heads of these fossorial species are large relative to the prey they encounter. As a consequence, the diets of large fossorial species of Lerista do not appear to be limited by their morphological specialization for sand-swimming.
    [Article – URL not found]
17. Grimmond, N.M., M.R. Preest, and F.H. Pough. (1994). Energetic costs of feeding on different kinds of prey for the lizard Chalcides ocellatus. Functional Ecology 8: 17-21.
18. Preest, M.R. (1994). Sexual size dimorphism and feeding energetics in the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Journal of Herpetology 28: 292-298.
19. Preest, M.R. (1993). Mechanisms of growth rate reduction in acid-exposed larval salamanders, Ambystoma maculatum. Physiological Zoology 66: 686-707.
20. Preest, M.R., D.G. Brust, and M.L. Wygoda. (1992). Cutaneous water loss and the effects of temperature and hydration state on aerobic metabolism of canyon treefrogs, Hyla arenicolor. Herpetologica 48: 210-219.
21. Preest, M.R. (1991). Energetic costs of prey ingestion in a scincid lizard, Scincella lateralis. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 161: 327-332.
22. Preest, M.R. and F.H. Pough. (1989). Interaction of temperature and hydration on locomotion of toads. Functional Ecology 3: 693-699.