Kevin Lafferty
Dr. Keving Lafferty is a Senior Ecologist with the Western Ecological Research Center.
His main interest lies in how parasites affect ecosystems and, in turn, how ecosystems affect parasites. He is also involved in research on the conservation of marine resources, investigating strategies for protecting endangered shorebirds, fish and abalone. He has also assessed the effects of marine reserves.
Dr. Lafferty received his Ph. D. in Ecological Parasitology in 1991 at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and took a post doc with the National Marine Sanctuary and a research position at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is presently a Marine Ecologist for the USGS at the Channel Islands Field Station. As a UCSB adjunct faculty member, the university's Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology generously provides for Dr. Lafferty's office and laboratory space in the Marine Lab. He advises graduate students in Marine Ecology, but has no formal teaching assignments.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Conservation biology
- Invasive species ecology
- Nearshore marine ecology
- Parasite ecology
- Wetland ecology
Professional Experience
Marine Ecologist, USGS, Western Ecological Science Center, Jul 1998-Present
Assistant Adj. Prof., UCSB, Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, Jul 1998-Present
Assist. Research Biologist, UCSB Marine Science Institute, Jun 1996-Jul 1998
Assist. Research Biologist, UCLA, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Jun 1994-Jul 1998
Assist. Research Biologist, UCSB, Marine Science Institute, Jan 1993-May 1994
Post Doctoral Researcher, National Marine Sanctuaries Program, Jan 1992-Dec 1992
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Ecology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 1991
M.A., Zoology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 1988
B.A., Aquatic Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 1985
Affiliations and Memberships*
Amercian Society of Parasitologists
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
California Botanical Society
Ecological Society of America
Ecological Society of America
Natural Areas Association
Western Society of Naturalists
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 232
High parasite diversity in the amphipod Gammarus lacustris in a subarctic lake
Amphipods are often key species in aquatic food webs due to their functional roles in the ecosystem and as intermediate hosts for trophically transmitted parasites. Amphipods can also host many parasite species, yet few studies address the entire parasite community of a gammarid population, precluding a more dynamic understanding of the food web. We set out to identify and quantify the parasite co
Authors
Jenny C. Shaw, Eirik H. Henriksen, Rune Knudsen, Jesper A. Kuhn, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Anna Siwertsson, Miroslava Soldánová, Per‐Arne Amundsen
Tradeoffs with growth limit host range in complex life-cycle helminths
Parasitic worms with complex life cycles have several developmental stages, with each stage creating opportunities to infect additional host species. Using a dataset for 973 species of trophically transmitted acanthocephalans, cestodes, and nematodes, we confirmed that worms with longer life cycles (i.e. more successive hosts) infect a greater diversity of host species and taxa (after controlling
Authors
Daniel P. Benesh, Geoffrey G. Parker, James C Chubb, Kevin D. Lafferty
Calibrating environmental DNA metabarcoding to conventional surveys for measuring fish species richness
The ability to properly identify species present in a landscape is foundational to ecology and essential for natural resource management and conservation. However, many species are often unaccounted for due to ineffective direct capture and visual surveys, especially in aquatic environments. Environmental DNA metabarcoding is an approach that overcomes low detection probabilities and should conseq
Authors
Mary E McElroy, Terra L Dressler, Georgia C Titcomb, Emily A Wilson, Kristy Deiner, Tom L. Dudley, Erika J. Eliason, Nathan T Evans, Steven D Gaines, Kevin D. Lafferty, Gary A Lamberti, Yiyuan Li, David M. Lodge, Milton S. Love, Andrew R. Mahon, Michael E Pfrender, Mark A Renshaw, Kimberly A Selkoe, Christopher L. Jerde
A global parasite conservation plan
Found throughout the tree of life and in every ecosystem, parasites are some of the most diverse, ecologically important animals on Earth—but in almost all cases, the least protected by wildlife or ecosystem conservation efforts. For decades, ecologists have been calling for research to understand parasites' important ecological role, and increasingly, to protect as many species from extinction as
Authors
Colin J. Carlson, Skylar R. Hopkins, Kayce C Bell, Jorge Doña, Stephanie S Godfrey, Mackenzie L Kwak, Kevin D. Lafferty, Melinda L Moir, Kelly A Speer, Giovanni Strona, Mark Torchin, Chelsea L. Wood
A science business model for answering important questions
Perhaps the biggest question in science is how to do better science. Many ecologists, including this book’s editors and authors, have succeeded under the current science “business model” and, from our perspective, the status quo works well enough. But science business models are under increased scrutiny. For instance, since 2012, at least nine papers have critiqued government-sponsored biomedical
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty
Looking where it’s hard to see: A case study documenting rare Eucyclogobius newberryi presence in a California lagoon
Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is increasingly used for biomonitoring and research of fish populations and communities by environmental resource managers and academic researchers. Although managers are much interested in expanding the use of eDNA as a survey technique, they are sceptical about both its utility (given that information is often limited to presence/absence of a species) and feasib
Authors
Terra L Dressler, Kevin D. Lafferty, Christopher L. Jerde, Tom L. Dudley
At Palmyra Atoll, the fish‐community environmental DNA signal changes across habitats but not with tides
At Palmyra Atoll, the environmental DNA (eDNA) signal on tidal sand flats was associated with fish biomass density and captured 98%–100% of the expected species diversity there. Although eDNA spilled over across habitats, species associated with reef habitat contributed more eDNA to reef sites than to sand‐flat sites, and species associated with sand‐flat habitat contributed more eDNA to sand‐flat
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Ana E Garcia-Vedrenne, John P. McLaughlin, Jasmine N. Childress, Marisa F Morse, Christopher L. Jerde
Models with environmental drivers offer a plausible mechanism for the rapid spread of infectious disease outbreaks in marine organisms
The first signs of sea star wasting disease (SSWD) epidemic occurred in just few months in 2013 along the entire North American Pacific coast. Disease dynamics did not manifest as the typical travelling wave of reaction-diffusion epidemiological model, suggesting that other environmental factors might have played some role. To help explore how external factors might trigger disease, we built a cou
Authors
E. A. Aalto, Kevin D. Lafferty, S. H. Sokolow, R. E. Grewelle, Tal Ben-Horin, C. A. Boch, P. T. Raimondi, S. J. Bograd, E. L. Hazen, M. G. Jacox, F. Micheli, G. A. De Leo
Disease can shape marine ecosystems
This chapter reviews how marine ecosystems respond to parasites. Evidence from several marine ecosystems shows that parasites can wield control over ecosystem structure, function, and dynamics by regulating host density and phenotype. Like predators, parasites can generate or modify trophic cascades, regulate important foundational species and ecosystem engineers, and mediate species coexistence b
Authors
Joseph P Morton, Brian R Silliman, Kevin D. Lafferty
Parasites in marine food webs
Parasites have important and unique impacts on marine food webs. By infecting taxa across all trophic levels, parasites affect both bottom-up and top-down processes in marine systems. When host densities are high enough, parasites can regulate or even decimate their populations, causing regime shifts in marine systems. As consumers and resources, parasites are enmeshed in food webs in ways that ar
Authors
John P. McLaughlin, Dana N. Morton, Kevin D. Lafferty
Dermal denticle assemblages in coral reef sediments correlate with conventional shark surveys
1. It is challenging to assess long-term trends in mobile, long-lived, and relatively rare species such as sharks. Despite ongoing declines in many coastal shark populations, conventional surveys might be too fleeting and too recent to describe population trends over decades to millennia. Placing recent shark declines into historical context should improve management efforts as well as our underst
Authors
Erin M. Dillon, Kevin D. Lafferty, Douglas J. McCauley, Darcy Bradley, Richard D. Norris, Jennifer E. Caselle, Graziella V. DiRenzo, Jonathan P.A. Gardner, Aaron O'Dea
The response of kelp forest organisms to spatial and temporal variation in wave energy in the California Channel Islands
This report describes the spatial and temporal variation in wave height for the study system in the broader context of the Southern California Bight. A new, low-cost pressure sensor was engineered for measuring wave height and period. These sensors were placed for several months at 32 sites around the Channel Islands where long-term kelp forest monitoring occurs. Matching sensor data with CDIP wav
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Andrew Rassweiler, C C Gotschalk, D N Morton, T W Bell, F Henderikx Freitas, Kushner D J, J Sprague, C.G. Johnson, L Washburn
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 232
High parasite diversity in the amphipod Gammarus lacustris in a subarctic lake
Amphipods are often key species in aquatic food webs due to their functional roles in the ecosystem and as intermediate hosts for trophically transmitted parasites. Amphipods can also host many parasite species, yet few studies address the entire parasite community of a gammarid population, precluding a more dynamic understanding of the food web. We set out to identify and quantify the parasite co
Authors
Jenny C. Shaw, Eirik H. Henriksen, Rune Knudsen, Jesper A. Kuhn, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Anna Siwertsson, Miroslava Soldánová, Per‐Arne Amundsen
Tradeoffs with growth limit host range in complex life-cycle helminths
Parasitic worms with complex life cycles have several developmental stages, with each stage creating opportunities to infect additional host species. Using a dataset for 973 species of trophically transmitted acanthocephalans, cestodes, and nematodes, we confirmed that worms with longer life cycles (i.e. more successive hosts) infect a greater diversity of host species and taxa (after controlling
Authors
Daniel P. Benesh, Geoffrey G. Parker, James C Chubb, Kevin D. Lafferty
Calibrating environmental DNA metabarcoding to conventional surveys for measuring fish species richness
The ability to properly identify species present in a landscape is foundational to ecology and essential for natural resource management and conservation. However, many species are often unaccounted for due to ineffective direct capture and visual surveys, especially in aquatic environments. Environmental DNA metabarcoding is an approach that overcomes low detection probabilities and should conseq
Authors
Mary E McElroy, Terra L Dressler, Georgia C Titcomb, Emily A Wilson, Kristy Deiner, Tom L. Dudley, Erika J. Eliason, Nathan T Evans, Steven D Gaines, Kevin D. Lafferty, Gary A Lamberti, Yiyuan Li, David M. Lodge, Milton S. Love, Andrew R. Mahon, Michael E Pfrender, Mark A Renshaw, Kimberly A Selkoe, Christopher L. Jerde
A global parasite conservation plan
Found throughout the tree of life and in every ecosystem, parasites are some of the most diverse, ecologically important animals on Earth—but in almost all cases, the least protected by wildlife or ecosystem conservation efforts. For decades, ecologists have been calling for research to understand parasites' important ecological role, and increasingly, to protect as many species from extinction as
Authors
Colin J. Carlson, Skylar R. Hopkins, Kayce C Bell, Jorge Doña, Stephanie S Godfrey, Mackenzie L Kwak, Kevin D. Lafferty, Melinda L Moir, Kelly A Speer, Giovanni Strona, Mark Torchin, Chelsea L. Wood
A science business model for answering important questions
Perhaps the biggest question in science is how to do better science. Many ecologists, including this book’s editors and authors, have succeeded under the current science “business model” and, from our perspective, the status quo works well enough. But science business models are under increased scrutiny. For instance, since 2012, at least nine papers have critiqued government-sponsored biomedical
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty
Looking where it’s hard to see: A case study documenting rare Eucyclogobius newberryi presence in a California lagoon
Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is increasingly used for biomonitoring and research of fish populations and communities by environmental resource managers and academic researchers. Although managers are much interested in expanding the use of eDNA as a survey technique, they are sceptical about both its utility (given that information is often limited to presence/absence of a species) and feasib
Authors
Terra L Dressler, Kevin D. Lafferty, Christopher L. Jerde, Tom L. Dudley
At Palmyra Atoll, the fish‐community environmental DNA signal changes across habitats but not with tides
At Palmyra Atoll, the environmental DNA (eDNA) signal on tidal sand flats was associated with fish biomass density and captured 98%–100% of the expected species diversity there. Although eDNA spilled over across habitats, species associated with reef habitat contributed more eDNA to reef sites than to sand‐flat sites, and species associated with sand‐flat habitat contributed more eDNA to sand‐flat
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Ana E Garcia-Vedrenne, John P. McLaughlin, Jasmine N. Childress, Marisa F Morse, Christopher L. Jerde
Models with environmental drivers offer a plausible mechanism for the rapid spread of infectious disease outbreaks in marine organisms
The first signs of sea star wasting disease (SSWD) epidemic occurred in just few months in 2013 along the entire North American Pacific coast. Disease dynamics did not manifest as the typical travelling wave of reaction-diffusion epidemiological model, suggesting that other environmental factors might have played some role. To help explore how external factors might trigger disease, we built a cou
Authors
E. A. Aalto, Kevin D. Lafferty, S. H. Sokolow, R. E. Grewelle, Tal Ben-Horin, C. A. Boch, P. T. Raimondi, S. J. Bograd, E. L. Hazen, M. G. Jacox, F. Micheli, G. A. De Leo
Disease can shape marine ecosystems
This chapter reviews how marine ecosystems respond to parasites. Evidence from several marine ecosystems shows that parasites can wield control over ecosystem structure, function, and dynamics by regulating host density and phenotype. Like predators, parasites can generate or modify trophic cascades, regulate important foundational species and ecosystem engineers, and mediate species coexistence b
Authors
Joseph P Morton, Brian R Silliman, Kevin D. Lafferty
Parasites in marine food webs
Parasites have important and unique impacts on marine food webs. By infecting taxa across all trophic levels, parasites affect both bottom-up and top-down processes in marine systems. When host densities are high enough, parasites can regulate or even decimate their populations, causing regime shifts in marine systems. As consumers and resources, parasites are enmeshed in food webs in ways that ar
Authors
John P. McLaughlin, Dana N. Morton, Kevin D. Lafferty
Dermal denticle assemblages in coral reef sediments correlate with conventional shark surveys
1. It is challenging to assess long-term trends in mobile, long-lived, and relatively rare species such as sharks. Despite ongoing declines in many coastal shark populations, conventional surveys might be too fleeting and too recent to describe population trends over decades to millennia. Placing recent shark declines into historical context should improve management efforts as well as our underst
Authors
Erin M. Dillon, Kevin D. Lafferty, Douglas J. McCauley, Darcy Bradley, Richard D. Norris, Jennifer E. Caselle, Graziella V. DiRenzo, Jonathan P.A. Gardner, Aaron O'Dea
The response of kelp forest organisms to spatial and temporal variation in wave energy in the California Channel Islands
This report describes the spatial and temporal variation in wave height for the study system in the broader context of the Southern California Bight. A new, low-cost pressure sensor was engineered for measuring wave height and period. These sensors were placed for several months at 32 sites around the Channel Islands where long-term kelp forest monitoring occurs. Matching sensor data with CDIP wav
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Andrew Rassweiler, C C Gotschalk, D N Morton, T W Bell, F Henderikx Freitas, Kushner D J, J Sprague, C.G. Johnson, L Washburn
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government