EEB Faculty Index

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Earth & Marine Sciences A308
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Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation of Estuarine Ecosystems

The primary goal of my graduate and postdoctoral research was to make ecological and evolutionary sense of invertebrate strategies of sex and growth, using manipulative and mensurative experiments and phylogenetic analyses.  In particular, I explored the bizarre reproductive strategies of colonial marine animals, testing hypotheses from sex allocation theory.  In the course of this work I inadvertently became a systematist, identifying two new species and carrying out a cladistic analysis of members of the small Phylum Kamptozoa.  I have also examined fusion between different genetic individuals in colonial species, and investigated the costs and benefits of claw autotomy in crabs. 

I maintain a strong interest in evolutionary ecology, but in my current permanent position as research coordinator at Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, my attention has shifted to issues in conservation biology, with particular emphasis on threats to estuarine ecosystems.  One such threat comes from biological invasions.  I have documented high numbers of marine invasions in Elkhorn Slough, and have carried out analyses that reveal habitat differences in invasion rates – hard substrates are more invaded than soft, and estuarine areas are more invaded than the adjacent open coast.  Another threat comes from pollution; I am investigating the effects of nutrient enrichment on salt marsh communities.  With collaborators, I am also studying the threats posed by hydrological alterations to estuarine systems.  Our historical ecology analysis has revealed a 50% loss of salt marshes due to such alterations over the past century.

In addition to focused short-term studies, I coordinate about a dozen long term monitoring programs.  We monitor water quality, habitat structure, and biotic communities (from benthic invertebrates to shorebirds to threatened amphibians).  These programs are designed to detect changes in estuarine habitats and communities and to inform wise conservation strategies for them.

Selected Publications

Wasson, K., and Newberry, A.T.  1997.  Modular Animals: Gonochoric, hermaphroditic, or both at once?  Invertebrate Reproduction and Development. 31:159-175.

Wasson, K.  1997.  Systematic revision of colonial kamptozoans (entoprocts) of the northeastern Pacific.  Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 121:1-63.

Wasson, K., Zabin, C.J., Bedinger, L., Diaz, C.M., and Pearse, J.S.  2001.  Biological invasions of estuaries without international shipping: the importance of intraregional transport.  Biological Conservation 102(2):143-153.

Tamburri, M.N., Wasson, K., and Matsuda, M.  2002.  Ballast water deoxygenation can prevent aquatic introductions while reducing ship corrosion.  Biological Conservation 103:331-341.

Wasson, K., Lyon, B.E., and Knope, M.  2002.  Hair-trigger autotomy in porcelain crabs is a highly effective escape strategy.  Behavioral Ecology 13:481-486

Wasson, K., Lohrer, D., Crawford, M., and Rumrill, S.  2002.  Non-native species in our nation’s estuaries: a framework for an invasion monitoring program.  National Estuarine Research Reserve Technical Report Series 2002:1. 

Wasson, K. and Lyon, B. 2005. Flight or flight: flexible anti-predatory strategies in porcelain crabs.  Behavioral Ecology 16:1037-1041.

Van Dyke, E. and Wasson, K. 2005. Historical ecology of a eentral California estuary: 150 years of habitat change.  Estuaries 28(2):173-189

Wasson, K., Fenn, K., Pearse, J.S. 2005. Habitat differences in marine invasions of Central California.  Biological Invasions 7:935-948.