Lecture on Invertebrate Symbiosis

Anemone. | Photo by Rena Martin.

Join Dr. Daphne Fautin from the University of Kansas for her seminar titled, "The truth about Nemo" on April 19th at 4:00p.m. in the OIMB Boathouse Auditorium (63466 Boat Basin Rd, Charleston). Admission is free and all are welcome!

This is part of the Spring 2019 OIMB Seminar Series running from April through June. 

Here is Dr. Fautin's biography:

An invertebrate zoologist, I do research centered on sea anemones. Because one of my major interests is symbiosis, I have worked also on a variety of organisms that live with sea anemones, including fishes, crustaceans, and algae. A recurring theme of this research is choice among species of potential symbiotic partners. Many of the symbioses I have studied -- such as those of anemonefishes and anemoneshrimps -- are associated with coral reefs, one of my environmental foci. My doctoral research was on sea anemone reproduction. That interest continues, with some of my current research being on reproductive periodicity of an abyssal species. I am also interested in general natural history, particularly with regard to habitat specificity. My post-doctoral research was in pharmacognosy -- I extracted biologically active compounds from sea anemones for possible development as new pharmaceuticals.

A theme running throughout much of this research is taxonomy and systematics. In order to understand the subtle distinctions among symbiotic pairs of different species, good identifications are necessary. Stimulated by habitat similarities and differences between corals and sea anemones, I have done research on the evolutionary links between them. I have assembld an inventory of all the sea anemone species of the world (which number about 1000), and that has been extended to sea anemone relatives such as corals [http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm]. The graduate students doing research in my laboratory work entirely or in part on systematic issues; undergraduates work on various aspects of the database including biogeography, and developing glossaries and keys. See some of their work at http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts.

I am active in professional organizations, currently serving on the International Steering Committee of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, serving on the US National Committee for the International Union of Biological Sciences, and chairing the US National Committee for the Census of Marine Life. I have served on the editorial board of several scientific publications, and I teach a course on scientific communication.