Rod is a comparative physiologist. He aims to provide a more holistic understanding of homeostasis in aquatic animals, both fish and invertebrates, freshwater and marine. This includes studies of how anthropogenic and natural environmental changes impact upon physiology and behaviour in the wild, and how to use physiology to help improve the sustainability of aquaculture (including animal growth efficiency and health, pathogen/parasite resistance, and farm effluent output). He also studies the reverse process: how physiological processes in aquatic animals can influence the regional and global environment in freshwater and the oceans.
