Who are the folks in the lab?

Brian Bowen and I share a large lab on Coconut Island and work closely in both the lab and mentoring our students. Check out this link to all the folks in the lab and their various projects. Brian’s interests tend to run more towards sea turtles and coral reef fishes, whereas mine tend to run more towards larval ecology and connectivity of marine invertebrates. We have a great set up, a fantastic location, and some amazing natural resources here, and the folks in our lab try to take the utmost advantage of our unusual situation.

What are my interests?

I have been accused of Attention Deficit Disorder because I tend to have many different interests that I am pursuing at any given time. I think that I have pretty broad interests, and it doesn’t take much to get me excited about interesting biological questions. I prefer to take advantage of whatever tools are best suited to answering the questions at hand, and don’t consider myself to be tightly tied to any particular set of techniques. I prefer to work close to home, and now that I am less than 50m from a living coral reef, I will tend to focus on the coral reef organisms native to Hawaii. I am particularly interested in getting involved in the molecular ecology of corals and trying to study the magnitude and patterns of gene flow among the Hawaiian Islands. My ongoing research interests include:

· Larval ecology of marine invertebrates

· Population genetic structure & phylogenetics of coral reef invertebrates

· Marine ornamental culture & aquarium science

· Current Collaborators & Ongoing Research Projects

Selected recent publications:

Forsman, Z., D.J. Barshis, C. Hunter & R.J. Toonen (2009). Shape-shifting corals: Molecular markers show morphology is evolutionarily plastic in Porites. BMC Evolutionary Biology 9:45

Concepcion, G., M. Crepeau, S.E. Kahng & R.J. Toonen (2008). An alternative to ITS - a hypervariable, single-copy nuclear intron in corals, and its use in detecting cryptic species within the octocoral genus Carijoa. Coral Reefs. 27:323-336.

Toonen, R.J. & A.J. Tyre (2007). If larvae were smart: A simple model for optimal settlement choices of competent larvae. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 349:43-61.

Diehl, J.M., R.J. Toonen & L. Botsford (2007). Spatial variability of recruitment in the sand crab Emerita analoga throughout California in relation to wind-driven currents. Marine Ecology Progress Series. (Feature Article) 350:1-17.

Bird, C.E., B.S. Holland, B.W. Bowen & R.J. Toonen (2007). Contrasting population structure in three endemic Hawaiian limpets (Cellana spp.) with similar life histories. Molecular Ecology. 16:3173-3187.

Faucci, A., R.J. Toonen & M.G. Hadfield (2007). Host shift and speciation in a coral-feeding nudibranch. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 274:111-119.

Selkoe, K.A. & R.J. Toonen (2006). Microsatellites for Ecologists: A practical guide to using and evaluating microsatellite markers. Ecology Letters. 9:615-629.

Wares, J.P., P.H. Barber, J. Ross-Ibarra, E. Sotka & R.J. Toonen (2006). Mitochondrial DNA and population size. Science. 314:1388-1390.

Bowen, B.W., A.L. Bass, L. Soares & R.J. Toonen (2005). Conservation implications of complex population structure: lessons from the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). Molecular Ecology. 14:2389-2402.

A complete list of ToBo Lab publications to date ( feel free to Email us to request any of these ) …

Interested in graduate school at the University of Hawaii? Follow this link to discover what you should know about the ToBo lab if you’re considering coming here…

Toonen Lab ToBo Lab Members Research Publications Prospective Students

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