Education

Ph.D. - University of Texas at Austin

Research & Teaching Interests

Systematics and phylogeography of marine invertebrates. The Halanych Lab is also part of the Molette Biology Laboratory for Environmental and Climate Change Studies at Auburn University.

Selected Publications

Thornhill, D. J., T. H. Struck, B. Ebbe, R. W. Lee, G. F.  Mendoza, L. A.  Levin, K. M. Halanych. 2012. Adaptive Radiation in Extremophilic Dorvilleids: Diversification of a Single Colonizer or Multiple Independent Lineages? Ecology & Evolution. 2:1958–1970.

Bik, H. M., K. M. Halanych, J. Sharma, W. K. Thomas. 2012. Dramatic shifts in benthic microbial eukaryote communities following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. PlosOne 7: e38550.

Kocot, K.M., J.T. Cannon, C Todt, M.R. Citarella, A.B. Kohn, A Meyer, S.R. Santos, C. Schander, L. L. Moroz, B. Leib, and K.M. Halanych. 2011. Phylogenomics reveals deep molluscan relationships. Nature 477:452-456. 

Hunter, R.L. K.M. Halanych. 2010. Phylogeography of the Antarctic planktotrophic brittle star Ophionotus victoriae reveals genetic structure inconsistent with early life history. Marine Biology 157:1693–1704.

Mahon, A.R., D.J. Thornhill, J.L. Norenburg, K.M. Halanych. 2010. DNA discovers missing Antarctic nemerteans and exposes a decades-old cold case of asymmetric inventory. Polar Biology 33:193-202.

Simon, C.A., D.J.Thornhill, K.M. Halanych. 2009. Genetic similarity between Boccardia proboscidea from Western North American and cultured abalone, Haliotis midae, in South Africa. Aquaculture 294:18-24. 

Jennings, R. M., T. M. Shank, L. S. Mullineaux, and K. M. Halanych. 2009. Assessment of the Cape Cod phylogeographic break using the bamboo worm Clymenella torquata reveals the role of regional water masses in dispersal. Journal of Heredity 100:86-96.

Thornhill, D. J., A. R. Mahon, J. L. Norenburg, and K. M. Halanych. 2008. Open-ocean barriers to dispersal: a test case with the Antarctic Polar Front and the ribbon worm Parborlasia corrugatus (Lineidae: Nemertea). Molecular Ecology 17:5104-5177.

Struck, T.H., N. Schult, T. Kusen, E. Hickman, C. Bleidorn, D. McHugh, and K.M. Halanych. 2007. Annelid phylogeny and origins of Sipuncula and Echiura. BioMed Central: Evol. Biol. 7:57 (11 pages).

Courses