Douglas D. Gaffin
David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus, Biological SciencesGeorge Lynn Cross Hall 227
ddgaffin at ou dot edu
https://scorpionlab.douglasgaffin.com/
Ph.D., Zoology/Neurophysiology - Oregon State University, 1994Research:
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, fluorescent cuticle, and conduciveness to electrophysiological investigation. We are also testing the “navigation by scene familiarity” hypothesis using algorithms inspired from ants and bees and are exploring the possibility that the ornate pectinal organs of scorpions may be involved in navigation via chemo-textural familiarity.
Selected Publications:
Gaffin, D. D. and Hoefnagels, M. H. (2025) Scorpion navigation by chemo-textural familiarity: modeling the interplay between sensory and landscape parameters. bioRxiv preprint.
Gaffin, D. D., Gálvez Falcón, S. E., and Hoefnagels, M. H. (2025) Locomotory effect of reversibly restraining the pectines of scorpions. Arthropoda 3:1-10.
Kundu, P., Oviedo-Diego, M., Cargnelutti, F., Jones, R.R., Garcia, E., Hebets, E.A., and Gaffin, D.D. (2025) Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of elongate solifuge sensilla to mechanical stimuli. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 211 (3): 277-292.
Peeples, H. M. and Gaffin, D. D. (2024) An assessment of the mechanosensory responses of peg sensilla on scorpion pectines. Journal of Arachnology 52: 1–8.
Merchant, A. B. and Gaffin, D. D. (2023) Investigating path integration cues in sand scorpion homing behavior. Arthropoda 1(2): 49–59.
Ortega-Escobar, J., Hebets, E. A., Bingman, V. P., Wiegmann, D. D., and Gaffin, D. D. (2023) Comparative biology of spatial navigation in three arachnid orders (Amblypygi, Araneae, and Scorpiones). Journal of Comparative Physiology A: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-023-01612-2.
Gaffin, D. D., Muñoz, M. G., and Hoefnagels, M. H. (2022) ) Evidence of learning walks related to scorpion home burrow navigation. Journal of Experimental Biology 25 (12): jeb243947.
Gaffin, D. D. and Shakir, S. F. (2021) ) Synaptic interactions in scorpion peg sensilla appear to maintain chemosensory neurons within dynamic firing range. Insects 12: 904.
Gaffin, D. D. and Curry, C. M. (2020) Arachnid navigation – a review of classic and emerging models (invited). Journal of Arachnology 48: 1–25.
Hughes, K. L. and Gaffin, D. D. (2019) Investigating sensory processing in the pectines of the striped bark scorpion. Invertebrate Neuroscience: 19: 9.