Daphne G. Fautin - Invertebrate Zoology
Professor
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Telephone: (785) 864-3062
Fax: (785) 864-5321
Ocean
Biogeographic Information System
Census of Marine Life
General Invertebrate Zoology
Scientific Writing
Occasionally: Coral Reefs, The Deep Sea, Systematics of Anthozoa, etc.
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.
Fautin, Daphne Gail, editor. 1988. Biomedical Importance of Marine Organisms. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 13:1-159.
Fautin, Daphne Gail and Gerald R. Allen. 1992. Field guide to anemone - fishes and their host sea anemones. Western Australian Museum. 160 pages. [online version: http://www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/ebooks/intro.html]
Buddemeier, Robert W. and Daphne Gail Fautin. 1993. Coral bleaching as an adaptive mechanism: a testable hypothesis. BioScience 43(5):320-326.
Fautin, Daphne G., Chau-Chih Guo, and Jiang-Shiou Hwang. 1995. Costs and benefits of the symbiosis between the anemoneshrimp Periclimenes brevicarpalis and its host Entacmaea quadricolor. Marine Ecology Progress Series 129:77-84.
Buddemeier, Robert W. and Daphne Gail Fautin. 1996. Saturation state and the evolution and biogeography of symbiotic calcification. Bulletin de l'Institut Oceanographique, Monaco special number 14(4):23-32.
Stanley, George D., Jr. and Daphne G. Fautin. 2001. The origins of modern corals. Science 291: 1913-1914.
Fautin, Daphne Gail. 2002. Reproduction of Cnidaria. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80(10): 1735-1754.
Daly, Marymegan, Daphne G. Fautin, and Valerie A. Cappola. 2003. Systematics of the Hexacorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 139: 419-437.
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