Bryson Voirin

Curriculum Vitae

After attending the Georg Büchner Gymnasium in Berlin, I completed twin Bachlor's Degrees (in Biology and Environmental Studies) at New College of Florida. During my undergraduate studies, I worked extensively in Panama climbing trees to study two- and three-toed sloths in the rainforest canopy. As an undergraduate, I founded a tree climbing school that focuses on teaching research-orientated tree access methods to scientists working in forests worldwide. In 2007, I was a Fulbright Scholar to Germany where I examined spatial habitat uses by stone martens. Following my Fulbright Fellowship, I joined Dr. Wikelski's lab group in Radolfzell conducting field research in Europe, North America, and South America. In addition to being a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute, I am currently a research fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and am elected to the Board of Trustees for New College of Florida.

PhD Advisory Committee

Martin Wikelski, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; link

Niels Rattenborg, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; link

Margaret Lowman, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; link

Roland Kays, New York State Museum; link

Research Interests & Goals

Sleep is a paramount part of daily life, with all animals spending significant time in this curious state of conscious quiescence. Yet despite extensive laboratory studies, the actual purpose of sleep remains unclear. Hypotheses range from energy conservation, memory consolidation, and immune regulation to simply passing the time.

One approach to examining the function of sleep is to compare how animals with different ecological and physiological characteristics sleep. Although this comparative approach has yielded some insight into sleep, until now, the vast majority of all sleep research has been conducted on captive or caged animals. Many scientists across various disciplines are discovering that animals in captivity are not the same organism, both behaviorally and biologically, as would be encountered in the wild. Consequently, the sleep patterns recorded in captivity may provide limited insight into how animals normally sleep in the wild.

My approach to investigating the function of sleep is by working outside the laboratory setting with unrestrained, wild animals. Until recently, our ability to record sleep from animals in the wild has been limited mainly by the size of the equipment needed to record the electroencephalogram (EEG), a measure of brain wave activity necessary to determine whether an animal is awake or asleep. Recently, portable EEG recording devices have become small enough for animals to carry unhindered in the wild.

Currently, I am examining various ecological and biological factors affecting sleep in wild three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegates) in the Republic of Panama. As a first step in sleep science, I showed that wild sloths sleep approx. 9.6 hours, a full six hours less that previously found in captive sloths. Demonstrating this large difference in sleep between captive and wild animals clearly demonstrated the need for organismal scientists to “go wild” with research.

For my dissertation I am concentrating on the impact immune strength, learning / memory consolidation, core body temperature, and elective sleep depravation have on wild animals. Conducting these tests in the wild is logistically quite challenging, especially considering sloths live 40-50m up in the treetops. However, using advanced tree climbing techniques, I can safely and effectively catch and study sloths in their native habitat in the rainforest canopy.

Publications

Suutari M, Majaneva M, Fewer DP, Voirin B, Aiello A, Friedl T, Chiarello AG, Blomster J. 2010. Molecular evidence for a diverse green algal community growing in the hair of sloths and a specific association with Trichophilus welckeri (Chlorophyta, Ulvophyceae). BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:86. abstract

Voirin B, Kays R, Lowman M, Wikelski M. 2009. Evidence of three-toed sloth predation by spectacled owl. Edentata 10:15-20. pdf

Voirin B. 2009. Review of Avise JC, Hubbell SP, Ayala FJ (eds) 2008. In the Light of Evolution, Volume II: Biodiversity and Extinction. Integrative and Comparative Biology 49: 726-727. pdf

Rattenborg NC, Voirin B, Vyssotski AL, Kays RW, Spoelstra K, Kuemmeth F, Heidrich W, Wikelski M. 2008. Sleeping outside the box: electroencephalographic measures of sleep in sloths inhabiting a rainforest. Biology Letters 4:402-405. abstract

Voirn B. 2006. The esoteric lives of two- and three-toed sloths. The Explorers Club Journal.