Robert H. Cowie
University of Liverpool (PhD), 1982
Researcher
Center for Conservation Research and Training
http://www.hawaii.edu/ccrt/CCRTOnline/Home.html
Pacific Biosicences Research Center
http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/

Chair, Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Program
phone: (808) 956-4909
cowie@hawaii.edu

Marty Meyer (Ph.D.) Ecology of invasive snails Jaynee Kim (MS) Ecology and epidemiology of invasive snails and slugs as disease vectors. Pat Curry (MS) Ecology of invasive snails.

VISIT THE COWIE LAB

Research Interests
Research in my lab is aimed primarily at understanding the origins and determinants of biological diversity in the islands of the Pacific. Hawaii is the perfect place to base this work. This research has been supported by NSF and other granting agencies and has generated numerous publications, many in top-ranked journals (e.g., Evolution, American Naturalist, Molecular Ecology). Non-marine snails (land and freshwater) are the main focus of the various projects going on in the lab. They offer many advantages for biodiversity research.

Projects in the lab fall in two general areas, focusing on 1) origins and determinants of native biodiversity and 2) biology of invasive species and their impacts on native biodiversity, as follows.

For more details visit the Cowie lab website at:

http://www.hawaii.edu/cowielab/

Representative Recent Publications

For a full list see the Cowie lab website

Cowie, R.H., Dillon, R.T., Jr., Robinson, D.G. & Smith, J.W. 2009. Alien non-marine snails and slugs of priority quarantine importance in the United States: a reliminary risk assessment. American Malacological Bulletin 27: 113-132.

Hayes, K.A., Cowie, R.H., Jørgensen, A., Schultheiß, R., Albrecht, C. & Thiengo, S.C. 2009. Molluscan models in evolutionary biology: apple snails (Gastropoda: Ampullariidae) as a system for addressing fundamental questions. American Malacological Bulletin 27: 47-58.

Cowie, R.H., Hayes, K.A., Tran, C.T. & Meyer, W.M., III. 2008. The horticultural industry as a vector of alien snails and slugs: widespread invasions in Hawaii. International Journal of Pest Management 54: 267-276.

Cowie, R.H. & Holland, B.S. 2008. Molecular biogeography and diversification of the endemic terrestrial fauna of the Hawaiian Islands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 363: 3363-3376.

Hayes, K.A., Joshi, R.C., Thiengo, S.C. & Cowie, R.H. 2008. Out of South America: multiple origins of non-native apple snails in Asia. Diversity and Distributions 14(4): 701-712.

Holland, B.S. & Cowie, R.H. 2007. A geographic mosaic of passive dispersal: population structure in the endemic Hawaiian amber snail Succinea caduca (Mighels, 1845). Molecular Ecology 16(12): 2422-2435.

Thiengo, S.C., Faraco, F.A., Salgado, N.C., Cowie, R.H. & Fernandez, M.A. 2007. Rapid spread of an invasive snail in South America: the giant African snail, Achatina fulica, in Brasil. Biological Invasions 9: 693-702.

Cowie, R.H. & Holland B.S. 2006. Dispersal is fundamental to biogeography and the evolution of biodiversity on oceanic islands. Journal of Biogeography 33: 193-198.

Cowie, R.H. 2005. Alien non-marine molluscs in the islands of the tropical and subtropical Pacific: a review. American Malacological Bulletin 20(1/2): 95-103.

Lydeard, C., Cowie, R.H., Ponder, W.F., Bogan, A.E., Bouchet, P., Clark, S., Cummings, K.S., Frest, T.J., Gargominy, O., Herbert, D.G., Hershler, R., Perez, K., Roth, B., Seddon, M., Strong, E.E. & Thompson, F.G. 2004. The global decline of nonmarine mollusks. BioScience 54(4): 321-330.

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