The Halanych Lab
Marine Invertebrate Evolution and Systematics

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About

Diversity of marine invertebrate is far greater than most people realize. In the Halanych lab, we are trying to understand how such extensive morphological variation came about by exploring questions on different time scales and with different types of genomic information. Combining a molecular systematic and/or genomic approach with information from organismal evolution has proved a powerful approach to study everything from the origin of major animal lineages to the recent biogeographic history of commercially important species.


People

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    Kenneth M. Halanych, Ph.D.

    Ken is broadly interested in marine invertebrate evolution. By combining genomic and bioinformatic tools with organismal biology, he has explored questions of deep animal phylogeny, chemosynthetic ecosystems, population genomics, and Antarctic biology. He is involved on a number of fronts with promoting the use of genomic and informatics to better understand marine systems. Those interested in joining the lab should contact him.

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    Candace J. Grimes, Ph.D.
    Post-Doc

    Candace enjoys investigating how marine invertebrates have adapted and evolved to cope with environmental stressors. She is interested in studying these responses at all levels of scale, from genes to geographic distributions.

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    Caitlin Redak
    Ph.D. Candidate

    Caitlin Redak is a PhD student studying population genomics of marine invertebrates. She is interested in understanding how different relationships between populations influence evolutionary pressures and utilizing population genomics to aid in conservation.

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    Oluchi L. Oyekwe
    Ph.D. Student

    Oluchi is broadly interested in using different omics tools to study the interaction (pathogenic and non-pathogenic) between microbes and multicellular organisms as well as understand their roles in different environments.

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    Kyle B. Donnelly
    Master's Student

    Kyle Donnelly studies the effect of environmental factors on benthic invertebrate community composition and the differential gene expression of toxin-producing cyanobacteria as they are exposed to varying salinities.

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    Harrison Mancke
    Ph.D. Student

    Harrison Mancke is a Ph.D. student studying the visual systems of marine annelids. She is interested in using visual transcriptomes to understand how different photosystems function and evolve at varying geographic distribution.

  Past Personnel       Current Location
  Kyle David       Vanderbilt University
  Damien Waits       Bioinformatics Contractor
  Michael Tassia       Johns Hopkins University
  Viktoria Bogantes       University of West Florida
  Li Yuanning       Shandong University
  Matt Galaska       NOAA Seattle
  Pamela Brannock   Rollins College
  Nathan Whelan       US Fish & Wildlife
  Kevin Kocot   University of Alabama
  Johanna Cannon       Academies of Loudoun
  Alexis Janosik       University of West Florida
  Dan Thornhill       National Science Foundation
  Liz Borda       Texas A&M University at Galveston
  Rebecca Hunter       Abilene Christian University
  Min Zhong       Auburn University
  Andy Mahon       Central Michigan University
  Nerida Wilson       Western Australian Museum
  Torsten Struck       Univ. of Olso Nat. History Museum
  Rob Jennings       Temple University
  Thomas Dahlgren       Gothenberg University
  Tim Shank       Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  Yale Passamaneck       Bureau of Reclamation, Denver
     
     

Recent Publications

In Press

2021

Oyekwe, O., K. M. Halanych. 2021. Genome-wide characterization of LTR retrotransposons in the non-model deep-sea annelid Lamellibrachia luymesi. BMC Genomics 22 (1), 1-11.

Bogantes, V. E. M. J. Boyle, K. M. Halanych. 2021. New reports of Pseupodolydora (Annelida: Spionidae) from the East Coast of Florida, including the non-native species P. paucibranchiata. Biological Invasions 10.

Wilson, C. A., N. M. Dannreuther, J. W. Farrington, M. G. Feldman, K. M. Halanych, J. L. Pettit, J. Rullkötter, P. A. Sandifer, J. G. Shepherd, D. Westerholm, C. J. Yanoff, L. A. Zimmermann. Summary of Findings and Research Recommendations from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. Oceanography 34:228-239.

Halanych, K. M., C. H. Ainsworth, E. E. Cordes, R. E. Dodge, M. Huettel, I.A. Mendelssohn, S. A. Murawski, C. B. Paris-Limouzy, P. T. Schwing, R. F. Shaw, T. Sutton. Submitted. Effects of petroleum by-products and dispersants on ecosystems. Oceanography 34:152-163.

Halanych, K. M., D. Westerholm. 2021. Considerations for scientists getting involved in oil spill research. Oceanography 34:112-123.

Murawski, S. A., M. Grosell, C. Smith, T. Sutton, K. M. Halanych, R. Shaw, C. A. Wilson. 2021. Chapter 10: Impacts of Petroleum, Petroleum Components and Dispersants on Organisms and Populations. Oceanography 34:136-151

Weiman, S., S. B. Joye, J. E. Kostka, R. R. Colwell, K. M. Halanych. 2021. GoMRI insights into microbial genomics and hydrocarbon bioremediation response in marine ecosystems. Oceanography 34:124-135, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27020065

Galaska, M.P, D. S. Wethey, A. Arias, S. F. Dubois, K. M. Halanych, S. A. Woodin. 2021. The impact of aquaculture on the genetics and distribution of the onuphid annelid Diopatra biscayensis. Ecology and Evolution 11, 6184-6194.

David, K. T., K. M. Halanych. 2021. Spatial proximity between polyploids across South American frog genera. Journal of Biogeography 48(5), 991-1000.

K. M. Halanych, J.T. Cannon, J. Benito. 2021. Access Science

Ingels, J., R. B. Aronson, C. R. Smith, A. Baco, H. M. Bik, J. A. Blake, A. Brandt, M. Cape, D. Demaster, E. Dolan, E. Domack, S. Fire, H. Geisz, M. Gigliotti, H. Griffiths, K. M. Halanych, C. Havermans, F. Huettmann, S. Ishman, S. Kranz, A. Leventer, A. R. Mahon, J. McClintock, M. L. McCormick, B. G. Mitchell, A. Murray, L. Peck, A. Rogers, B. Shoplock, K. E. Smith, B. Steffel, M. R. Stukel, A. Sweetman, M. Taylor, A. R. Thurber, M. Truffer, A. van de Putte, A. Vanreusel, M. A. Zamora-Duran. 2021. Antarctic Ecosystem Responses following Ice Shelf Collapse and Iceberg Calving: Science Review and Future Research. WIRE’s Climate Change. 2021:e682.

2020

Li, Y., K. T. David, X.-X. Shen, J. L. Steenwyk, K. M. Halanych, A.Rokas. 2020. Feature Frequency Profile-based phylogenies are inaccurate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. On-line letter. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12543050.v1.

Belato, F. A., C. J. Coates, K. M. Halanych, R. E. Weber, E. M. Costa-Paiva. 2020. Evolutionary history of the globin gene family in annelids. Genome Biology and Evolution 12:1719-1733.

Kong, L., K. M. Kocot, Y. Yang, L. Qi, Q. Li, K. M. Halanych. 2020. Mitogenomics reveals phylogenetic relationships of Arcoida (Mollusca, Bivalvia) and multiple independent expansions in mitochondrial genome size. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 150:106857.

Erséus, C., B. W. Williams, K. M. Horn, K. M. Halanych, S. R. Santos, S. W. James, M. C. des Châtelliers, F. E. Anderson. 2020. Phylogenomic analyses reveal a Paleozoic radiation and support a fresh water origin for clitellate annelids. Zoologica Scripta49:614-640.

Zhou. Y., Y. Li, H. Cheng, K. M. Halanych, C. Wang. 2020. The mitochondrial genome of the bone-eating worm Osedax rubiplumus (Annelida, Siboglinidae). Mitochondrial DNA Part B: Resources 5:2267-2268.

Townsend, J.P., M. G. Tassia, A. Damian-Serrano, N. V. Whelan, K. M. Halanych, A. M. Sweeney. 2020. A mesopelagic ctenophore representing a new family, with notes on family-level taxonomy in Ctenophora: Vampyroctena delmarvensis gen. nov. sp. nov (Vampyroctenidae, fam. nov.). Marine Biodiversity 50:34.

Alves, P. R., K. M. Halanych, C. S. G. Santos. 2020. The phylogeny of Nereididae (Annelida) based on mitochondrial genomes. Zoologica Scripta 49: 366–378.

David, K. T., J. R. Oaks, K. M. Halanych. 2020. Patterns of Gene Evolution Following Duplications and Speciations in Vertebrates. PeerJ 8:e8813

Bogantes, V. E., N. V. Whelan, K. Webster, A. R. Mahon, K. M. Halanych. 2020. Unrecognized diversity of a scale worm, Polyeunoa laevis (Annelida: Polynoidae), that feeds on soft coral. Zoologica Scripta 49:236-249.

Kocot, K.M., A. J. Poustka, I. Stöger, K. M. Halanych, M. Schrödl. 2020. New data from Monoplacophora and a carefully-curated dataset resolve molluscan relationships. Scientific Reports 10:101.

Garey, J.B., C.B. Cameron, K.M. Halanych, J.A. Servin, J.A. Lake. 2020. Deuterostomia. Pp.607-610. In Ed. K. de Queiroz, P. D. Cantino, J. A. Gauthier, Phylonyms, A Companion to the PhyloCode, 1st Edition. CRC Press.

Lake, J.A., K.M. Halanych, M.C. Rivera, J.A. Servin, J.R. Garey. 2020. Ecdysozoa. Pp. 555-556. In Ed. K. de Queiroz, P. D. Cantino, J. A. Gauthier, Phylonyms, A Companion to the PhyloCode, 1st Edition. CRC Press.

Halanych, K.M., J.R. Garey, J.A. Servin, J.A. Lake. 2020. Lophotrochozoa. Pp. 485-488. In Ed. K. de Queiroz, P. D. Cantino, J. A. Gauthier, Phylonyms, A Companion to the PhyloCode, 1st Edition. CRC Press.

Garey, J.R., K.M. Halanych, J.A. Servin, J.A. Lake. 2020. Protostomia. Pp. 479-483. In Ed. K. de Queiroz, P. D. Cantino, J. A. Gauthier, Phylonyms, A Companion to the PhyloCode, 1st Edition. CRC Press.

Lake, J.A., J.R. Garey, J.A. Servin, K.M. Halanych. 2020. Bilateria. Pp. 475-477. In Ed. K. de Queiroz, P. D. Cantino, J. A. Gauthier, Phylonyms, A Companion to the PhyloCode, 1st Edition. CRC Press.

Garey, J.A., K.M. Halanych. 2020. Metazoa. Pp. 418-419. In Ed. K. de Queiroz, P. D. Cantino, J. A. Gauthier, Phylonyms, A Companion to the PhyloCode, 1st Edition. CRC Press.