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KNOWLTON, NANCY

Adjunct Professor of Marine Biology/Director of CMBC

Degrees:

• B.A., Harvard University
• Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Research Interests:

• Marine biodiversity
• Ecology, evolution, behavior, and systematics of coral reef organisms
• Speciation
• Marine conservation

Courses Recently Taught:

• SIO295LS: Lab Marine Biodivrsty&Consrvtn
• SIO295S: Marine Biodiversity&Conservatn

Honors and Awards:

• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1997
• Fellow, Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, 1999
• Elected, National Board, AAAS, 2008

Mentoring:

• Plaisance, Laetitia (Post Doc; 2006-2009)
• Vardi, Tali (Graduate; 2005-2009)
• Roth, Melissa (Graduate; 2004-2009)
• Fukami, Hironobu (Post Doc; 2003-2006)
• Walsh, Sheila (Graduate; 2003-2009)
• Nunes, Flavia (Graduate; 2002-2009)
• Kline, David (Graduate; 1998-2005)
• Toller, Wes (Post Doc; 1998-2001)

Selected Publications:

Hurt, C., Anker, A. and Knowlton, N. In press. A multilocus test of simultaneous divergence across the Isthmus of Panama using snapping shrimp. Evolution.

Fukami, H., C. A. Chen, A. F. Budd, A. Collins, C. Wallace, Y.-Y. Chuang, C. Chen, C.-F. Dai, K. Iwao, C. Sheppard and N. Knowlton. 2008. Mitochondrial and nuclear genes suggest that stony corals are monophyletic but most families of stony corals are not (Order Scleractinia, Class Anthozoa, Phylum Cnidaria). PLoS One 3: e3222. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003222 (9 pp)

Knowlton, N. 2008. Coral reefs. Current Biology 18: R18-R21.

Knowlton, N. and J. B. C. Jackson. 2008. Shifting baselines, local impacts, and global change on coral reefs. PLoS Biology 6: e54, 6 pp.

Dinsdale, E. A., O. Pantos, S. Smriga, R. A. Edwards, F. Angly, L. Wegley, M. Hatay, D. Hall, E. Brown, M. Haynes, L. Krause, E. Sala, S. A. Sandin, R. V. Thurber, B. L. Willis, F. Azam, N. Knowlton, and F. Rohwer. 2008. Microbial ecology of four coral atolls in the northern Line Islands. PLoS One 3: e1584, 17 pp.

Sandin, S. A., J. E. Smith, E. E. DeMartini, E. A. Dinsdale, S. D. Donner, A. M. Friedlander, T. Konotchick, M. Malay, J. E. Maragos, D. Obura, O. Pantos, G. Paulay, M. Richie, F. Rohwer, R. E. Schroeder, S. Walsh, J. B. C. Jackson, N. Knowlton and E. Sala. 2008. Baselines and degradation of coral reefs in the northern Line Islands. PLoS One 3: e1548, 11 pp.

Ruckelshaus, M., T. Klinger, N. Knowlton, and D.P. DeMaster. 2008. Marine ecosystem-based management in practice: Considering resilience in a broader context. Bioscience 58: 53-63.

Nunes, F., H. Fukami, S. V. Vollmer, R. D. Norris and N. Knowlton. 2008. Re-evaluation of the systematics of the endemic corals of Brazil by molecular data. Coral Reefs 27: 423-432.

Hoegh-Guldberg, O., P. J. Mumby, A. J. Hooten, R. S. Steneck, P. Greenfield, E. Gomez, C. D. Harvell, P. F. Sale, A. J. Edwards, K. Caldeira, N. Knowlton, C. M. Eakin, R. Iglesias-Prieto, N. Muthiga, R. H. Bradbury, A. Dubi, and M. E. Hatziolos. 2007. Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification. Science 318: 1737-1742.

Knowlton, N. 2006. Coral reef coda: what can we hope for? Pp 538-549 in Coral Reef Conservation (I. Cote and J. Reynolds, eds.), Cambridge Univ. Press.

Garren, M., S. M. Walsh, A. Caccone, and N. Knowlton. 2006. Patterns of association between Symbiodinium and members of the Monstastraea annularis species complex on spatial scales ranging from within colonies to between geographic regions. Coral Reefs 25: 503-512.

Sala, E. and N. Knowlton. 2006. Global marine biodiversity trends. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 31: 93-122.

Kline, D, Kuntz, N., Breitbart, M, Knowlton, N., and F. Rohwer. 2006. Role of elevated organic carbon levels and microbial activity in coral mortality. Marine Ecology Progress Series 314: 119-125.

Fukami, H. and N. Knowlton. 2005. Analysis of complete mitochondrial DNA sequences of three members of the Montastraea annularis species complex (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Scleractinia). Coral Reefs 24: 410-417.

Levitan, D., H. Fukami, J. Jara, D. Kline, T. McGovern, K. McGhee, C. Swanson, and N. Knowlton. 2004. Mechanisms of reproductive isolation among sympatric broadcast-spawning corals. Evolution 58: 308-323.

Fukami, H., A. F. Budd, D. R. Levitan, J. Jara, R. Kersanach, and N. Knowlton. 2004. Geographical differences in species boundaries among members of the Montastraea anularis complex based on molecular and morphological markers. Evolution 58: 324-337.

Knowlton, N. 2004. Ocean health and human health. Environmental Health Perspectives 112: A262 Link to publication

Knowlton, N. 2004. Multiple “stable” states and the conservation of marine ecosystems. Progress in Oceanography. 60: 387-396.

Fukami, H., A. F. Budd, G. Paulay, A. Solé-Cava, C. A. Chen, K. Iwao, and N. Knowlton. 2004. Conventional taxonomy obscures deep divergence between Pacific and Atlantic corals. Nature 427: 832-835.

Knowlton, N. and F. Rohwer. 2003. Multispecies microbial mutualisms on coral reefs: the host as habitat. American Naturalist 162 (Suppl): S51-S62.

Rohwer, F., V. Seguritan, F. Azam, and N. Knowlton 2002. High diversity and species-specific distribution of coral-associated bacteria. Marine Ecology Progress Series 243: 1-10.

Toller, W. W., R. Rowan and N. Knowlton. 2001. Zooxanthellae of the Montastraea annularis species complex: patterns of distribution of four taxa of Symbiodinium on different reefs and across depths. Biological Bulletin 201: 348-359

Toller, W. W., R. Rowan and N. Knowlton. 2001. Repopulation of zooxanthellae in the Caribbean corals Montastraea annularis and M. faveolata following experimental and disease-associated bleaching. Biolological Bulletin 201: 360-373.

Knowlton, N. 2001. The future of coral reefs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98:5419-5425.

Williams, S. T., N. Knowlton, L. A. Weigt and J. A. Jara. 2001. Evidence for three major clades within the snapping shrimp genus Alpheus inferred from nuclear and mitochondiral gene sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 20:375-389.

Williams, S. T. and N. Knowlton. 2001. Mitochondrial pseudogenes are pervasive and often insidious in the snapping shrimp genus Alpheus. Molecular Biology and Evolution 18:1484-1493.

Knowlton, N. 2000. Molecular genetics analyses of species boundaries in the sea. Hydrobiologia 420:73-90.

Herre, A., N. Knowlton, U. Mueller and S. Rehner. 1999. The evolution of mutualisms: Exploring the paths between conflict and cooperation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 14:49-53.

Knowlton, N. and L. A.Weigt. 1998. New dates and new rates for divergence across the Isthmus of Panama. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences 265:2257-2263.