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
Towards common ground in the biodiversity–disease debate
The disease ecology community has struggled to come to consensus on whether biodiversity reduces or increases infectious disease risk, a question that directly affects policy decisions for biodiversity conservation and public health. Here, we summarize the primary points of contention regarding biodiversity–disease relationships and suggest that vector-borne, generalist wildlife and zoonotic patho
Authors
Jason R. Rohr, David J. Civitello, Fletcher W. Halliday, Peter J. Hudson, Kevin D. Lafferty, Chelsea L. Wood, Erin A. Mordecai
Parasitic nematodes of marine fishes from Palmyra Atoll, East Indo-Pacific, including a new species of Spinitectus (Nematoda, Cystidicolidae)
Here, we present the results of a taxonomic survey of the nematodes parasitizing fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Eastern Indo-Pacific. We performed quantitative parasitological surveys of 653 individual fish from each of the 44 species using the intertidal sand flats that border the atoll’s lagoon. We provide morphological descriptions, prevalence, and mean intensities of the recove
Authors
David González-Solís, Lilia Catherinne Soler-Jiménez, M Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, John P. McLaughlin, Jenny C. Shaw, Anna K James, Ryan F. Hechinger, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Víctor Manuel Vidal-Martínez
Precision mapping of snail habitat provides a powerful indicator of human schistosomiasis transmission
Recently, the World Health Organization recognized that efforts to interrupt schistosomiasis transmission through mass drug administration have been ineffective in some regions; one of their new recommended strategies for global schistosomiasis control emphasizes targeting the freshwater snails that transmit schistosome parasites. We sought to identify robust indicators that would enable precision
Authors
Chelsea L. Wood, Susanne H. Sokolow, Isabel J. Jones, Andrew J Chamberlin, Kevin D. Lafferty, Armand M. Kuris, Merlijn M. T. Jocque, Skylar R. Hopkins, Grant Adams, Julia C Buck, Andrea J Lund, Ana E Garcia-Vedrenne, Evan Fiorenza, Jason R. Rohr, Fiona Allan, Bonnie Webster, Muriel Rabone, Joanne P Webster, Lydie Bandagny, Raphaël Ndione, Simon Senghor, Anne-Marie Schacht, Nicolas Jouanard, Gilles Riveau, Giulio A. De Leo
Infection at an ecotone: Cross‐system foraging increases satellite parasites but decreases core parasites in raccoons
Ecotones can increase free-living species richness, but little is known about how parasites respond to ecotones. Here we use parasite communities in raccoons (Procyon lotor) to test the hypothesis that parasite communities can be divided into core and satellite species, each with fundamentally different responses to ecotones. We used published parasite surveys to classify parasites as common core
Authors
Sara B. Weinstein, Jacey C. Van Wert, Mike Kinsella, Vasyl V. Tkach, Kevin D. Lafferty
Southern California and range‐wide raccoon gastrointestinal helminth database
Local and global measurements of parasite prevalence and abundance are critical for understanding the dynamics that underlie the diversity, distribution, and evolution of infectious diseases. Here, we present a data set of gut helminths found in (1) raccoons throughout their range, based on primary literature from 1925–2017 and (2) raccoons in Santa Barbara County, California, USA surveyed from 20
Authors
Sara B. Weinstein, Jacey C. Van Wert, Mike Kinsella, Vasyl V. Tkach, Kevin D. Lafferty
Synopsis of research programs that can provide baseline and monitoring information for offshore energy activities in the Pacific region: Seabird and marine mammal surveys in the Pacific region
We assembled and tabulated information about marine bird and mammal research and monitoring programs that could provide data needed to support environmental risk assessments. This included identifying ongoing or completed research programs that contain information on species and habitats sensitive to offshore energy activities and that could provide baseline and monitoring data to understand and m
Authors
Josh Adams, Kevin D. Lafferty, Emily C. Kelsey, Cora A. Johnston
Species insurance trumps spatial insurance in stabilizing biomass of a marine macroalgal metacommunity
Because natural ecosystems are complex, it is difficult to predict how their variability scales across space and levels of organization. The species‐insurance hypothesis predicts that asynchronous dynamics among species should reduce variability when biomass is aggregated either from local species populations to local multispecies communities, or from metapopulations to metacommunities. Similarly,
Authors
Thomas Lamy, Shaopeng Wang, Delphine Renard, Kevin D. Lafferty, Daniel C. Reed, Robert J. Miller
Parasitic copepods (Crustacea, Hexanauplia) on fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific
We surveyed copepods parasitic on the fishes at Palmyra, a remote atoll in the Central Indo-Pacific faunal region. In total, we collected 849 individual fish, representing 44 species, from the intertidal lagoon flats at Palmyra and recovered 17 parasitic copepod species. The parasitic copepods were: Orbitacolax williamsi on Mulloidichthys flavolineatus; Anuretes serratus on Acanthurus xanthopterus
Authors
Lilia Catherinne Soler-Jiménez, F. Neptali Morales-Serna, Ma. Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, John P. McLaughlin, Alejandra G. Jaramillo, Jenny C. Shaw, Anna K James, Ryan F. Hechinger, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Victor M. Vidal-Martinez
A strong colonizer rules the trematode guild in an intertidal snail host
We examined the extent to which supply‐side, niche, and competition theories and concepts help explain a trematode community in which one species comprises 87% of the trematode individuals, and the remaining 15 species each have <3%. We collected and dissected the common and wide‐ranging snail host Heleobia australis over four seasons from three distinct habitats from the intertidal area of the Ba
Authors
Pilar Alda, Nicolas Bonel, Nestor J. Cazzaniga, Sergio R. Martorelli, Kevin D. Lafferty
Fish culling reduces tapeworm burden in Arctic charr by increasing parasite mortality rather than by reducing density‐dependent transmission
Two common Dibothriocephalus (formerly Diphyllobothrium) tapeworm species were significantly reduced by experimental culling of their fish host Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) in a subarctic lake.Between 1984 and 1991, funnel traps were used to cull ~35 metric tons of Arctic charr, reducing charr density by ~80%. As charr densities decreased, tapeworm prevalence and then intensity also declined
Authors
Eirik H. Henriksen, Andre Frainer, Rune Knudsen, Roar Kristoffersen, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Per-Arne Amundsen
Ecosystem function and services of aquatic predators in the Anthropocene
Arguments for the need to conserve aquatic predator (AP) populations often focuses on the ecological and socio-economic roles they play. Here, we summarize the diverse ecosystem functions and services connected to APs, including regulating food webs, cycling nutrients, engineering habitat, transmitting diseases/parasites, mediating ecological invasions, effecting climate, supporting fisheries, gen
Authors
Neil Hammerschlag, Oswald J. Schmitz, Alexander S. Flecker, Kevin D. Lafferty, Andrew Sih, Trisha B. Atwood, Austin J. Gallagher, Duncan J. Irschick, Rachel Skubel, Steven J. Cooke
Detecting southern California’s white sharks with environmental DNA
To improve ability to detect white sharks without the need for tags, or visual census, we developed a species-specific environmental DNA (eDNA) assay that targets a 163 bp fragment of the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) mitochondrial cytochrome B gene on a digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) platform. We used this marker to detect white shark DNA in 250 ml water samples taken from across two sites in
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Kasey C. Benesh, Andrew R. Mahon, Christopher L. Jerde, Christopher G. Lowe
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 232
Towards common ground in the biodiversity–disease debate
The disease ecology community has struggled to come to consensus on whether biodiversity reduces or increases infectious disease risk, a question that directly affects policy decisions for biodiversity conservation and public health. Here, we summarize the primary points of contention regarding biodiversity–disease relationships and suggest that vector-borne, generalist wildlife and zoonotic patho
Authors
Jason R. Rohr, David J. Civitello, Fletcher W. Halliday, Peter J. Hudson, Kevin D. Lafferty, Chelsea L. Wood, Erin A. Mordecai
Parasitic nematodes of marine fishes from Palmyra Atoll, East Indo-Pacific, including a new species of Spinitectus (Nematoda, Cystidicolidae)
Here, we present the results of a taxonomic survey of the nematodes parasitizing fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Eastern Indo-Pacific. We performed quantitative parasitological surveys of 653 individual fish from each of the 44 species using the intertidal sand flats that border the atoll’s lagoon. We provide morphological descriptions, prevalence, and mean intensities of the recove
Authors
David González-Solís, Lilia Catherinne Soler-Jiménez, M Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, John P. McLaughlin, Jenny C. Shaw, Anna K James, Ryan F. Hechinger, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Víctor Manuel Vidal-Martínez
Precision mapping of snail habitat provides a powerful indicator of human schistosomiasis transmission
Recently, the World Health Organization recognized that efforts to interrupt schistosomiasis transmission through mass drug administration have been ineffective in some regions; one of their new recommended strategies for global schistosomiasis control emphasizes targeting the freshwater snails that transmit schistosome parasites. We sought to identify robust indicators that would enable precision
Authors
Chelsea L. Wood, Susanne H. Sokolow, Isabel J. Jones, Andrew J Chamberlin, Kevin D. Lafferty, Armand M. Kuris, Merlijn M. T. Jocque, Skylar R. Hopkins, Grant Adams, Julia C Buck, Andrea J Lund, Ana E Garcia-Vedrenne, Evan Fiorenza, Jason R. Rohr, Fiona Allan, Bonnie Webster, Muriel Rabone, Joanne P Webster, Lydie Bandagny, Raphaël Ndione, Simon Senghor, Anne-Marie Schacht, Nicolas Jouanard, Gilles Riveau, Giulio A. De Leo
Infection at an ecotone: Cross‐system foraging increases satellite parasites but decreases core parasites in raccoons
Ecotones can increase free-living species richness, but little is known about how parasites respond to ecotones. Here we use parasite communities in raccoons (Procyon lotor) to test the hypothesis that parasite communities can be divided into core and satellite species, each with fundamentally different responses to ecotones. We used published parasite surveys to classify parasites as common core
Authors
Sara B. Weinstein, Jacey C. Van Wert, Mike Kinsella, Vasyl V. Tkach, Kevin D. Lafferty
Southern California and range‐wide raccoon gastrointestinal helminth database
Local and global measurements of parasite prevalence and abundance are critical for understanding the dynamics that underlie the diversity, distribution, and evolution of infectious diseases. Here, we present a data set of gut helminths found in (1) raccoons throughout their range, based on primary literature from 1925–2017 and (2) raccoons in Santa Barbara County, California, USA surveyed from 20
Authors
Sara B. Weinstein, Jacey C. Van Wert, Mike Kinsella, Vasyl V. Tkach, Kevin D. Lafferty
Synopsis of research programs that can provide baseline and monitoring information for offshore energy activities in the Pacific region: Seabird and marine mammal surveys in the Pacific region
We assembled and tabulated information about marine bird and mammal research and monitoring programs that could provide data needed to support environmental risk assessments. This included identifying ongoing or completed research programs that contain information on species and habitats sensitive to offshore energy activities and that could provide baseline and monitoring data to understand and m
Authors
Josh Adams, Kevin D. Lafferty, Emily C. Kelsey, Cora A. Johnston
Species insurance trumps spatial insurance in stabilizing biomass of a marine macroalgal metacommunity
Because natural ecosystems are complex, it is difficult to predict how their variability scales across space and levels of organization. The species‐insurance hypothesis predicts that asynchronous dynamics among species should reduce variability when biomass is aggregated either from local species populations to local multispecies communities, or from metapopulations to metacommunities. Similarly,
Authors
Thomas Lamy, Shaopeng Wang, Delphine Renard, Kevin D. Lafferty, Daniel C. Reed, Robert J. Miller
Parasitic copepods (Crustacea, Hexanauplia) on fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific
We surveyed copepods parasitic on the fishes at Palmyra, a remote atoll in the Central Indo-Pacific faunal region. In total, we collected 849 individual fish, representing 44 species, from the intertidal lagoon flats at Palmyra and recovered 17 parasitic copepod species. The parasitic copepods were: Orbitacolax williamsi on Mulloidichthys flavolineatus; Anuretes serratus on Acanthurus xanthopterus
Authors
Lilia Catherinne Soler-Jiménez, F. Neptali Morales-Serna, Ma. Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, John P. McLaughlin, Alejandra G. Jaramillo, Jenny C. Shaw, Anna K James, Ryan F. Hechinger, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Victor M. Vidal-Martinez
A strong colonizer rules the trematode guild in an intertidal snail host
We examined the extent to which supply‐side, niche, and competition theories and concepts help explain a trematode community in which one species comprises 87% of the trematode individuals, and the remaining 15 species each have <3%. We collected and dissected the common and wide‐ranging snail host Heleobia australis over four seasons from three distinct habitats from the intertidal area of the Ba
Authors
Pilar Alda, Nicolas Bonel, Nestor J. Cazzaniga, Sergio R. Martorelli, Kevin D. Lafferty
Fish culling reduces tapeworm burden in Arctic charr by increasing parasite mortality rather than by reducing density‐dependent transmission
Two common Dibothriocephalus (formerly Diphyllobothrium) tapeworm species were significantly reduced by experimental culling of their fish host Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) in a subarctic lake.Between 1984 and 1991, funnel traps were used to cull ~35 metric tons of Arctic charr, reducing charr density by ~80%. As charr densities decreased, tapeworm prevalence and then intensity also declined
Authors
Eirik H. Henriksen, Andre Frainer, Rune Knudsen, Roar Kristoffersen, Armand M. Kuris, Kevin D. Lafferty, Per-Arne Amundsen
Ecosystem function and services of aquatic predators in the Anthropocene
Arguments for the need to conserve aquatic predator (AP) populations often focuses on the ecological and socio-economic roles they play. Here, we summarize the diverse ecosystem functions and services connected to APs, including regulating food webs, cycling nutrients, engineering habitat, transmitting diseases/parasites, mediating ecological invasions, effecting climate, supporting fisheries, gen
Authors
Neil Hammerschlag, Oswald J. Schmitz, Alexander S. Flecker, Kevin D. Lafferty, Andrew Sih, Trisha B. Atwood, Austin J. Gallagher, Duncan J. Irschick, Rachel Skubel, Steven J. Cooke
Detecting southern California’s white sharks with environmental DNA
To improve ability to detect white sharks without the need for tags, or visual census, we developed a species-specific environmental DNA (eDNA) assay that targets a 163 bp fragment of the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) mitochondrial cytochrome B gene on a digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) platform. We used this marker to detect white shark DNA in 250 ml water samples taken from across two sites in
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Kasey C. Benesh, Andrew R. Mahon, Christopher L. Jerde, Christopher G. Lowe
*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