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Dr.
Kay is no longer accepting new graduate students
Biogeography and ecology of marine mollusks
My research interests center around the marine mollusks of the Indo-West
Pacific. I am interested in systematics, ecology and biogeography,
with special emphasis on the ecology and distribution of insular
mollusks. Recently I have worked with micromollusks, those less
than about 10 mm in greatest dimension. They occur in sufficient
numbers both in Recent sediments and as fossils that they can be
analyzed for species composition and diversity and thus provide
information on trophic and spatial relations in benthic communities.
The Hawaiian marine biota is especially interesting in the context
of the Pacific Plate because it is readily available and has a fossil
record so that it can serve as a focal and relational point for
other insular faunal studies.
My graduate students have undertaken such diverse problems as those
of the systematics and ecology of the Hawaiian Littorinidae, the
reproductive biology of Hawaiian limpets, comparative functional
studies of the feeding apparatus and digestive system of dorid nudibranches,
muricids and Terebra, and the feeding habits and behavior of Cypraea
spp. Currently I am advising students investigating problems in
the ecology of rocky shorelines, asking such questions as to the
relative importance of predation and productivity in the distribution
of shoreline organisms and about the distribution of nerites and
sea grasses. I teach Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands (with
C. Lamoureux), and two graduate courses, one in Taxonomy and Systematics,
the other in Biogeography.
Selected
Publications
Kay, E.A. 1991. The marine mollusks of the Galapagos: determinants
of insular marine fauna. In: M.J. James, ed. Galapagos Marine Invertebrates.
New York: Plenum Press. pp. 235-252.
Kay, E.A. 1990. The Cypraeidae of the Indo-Pacific: Cenozoic phylogeny
and biogeography. Bulletin of Marine Science 47:23-24.
Kay, E.A. 1987. Endemism and evolution in Hawaiian Marine invertebrates.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution 2:183-186 (with S. Palumbi).
Kay, E.A. 1987. The Mollusca of Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands.
In: D. Devaney, E.S. Reese and B. Burch, The Natural History of
Enewetak Atoll, Dept. of Energy. (with S. Johnson.)
Kay, E.A. 1984. Patterns of speciation in the Indo-West Pacific.
In: F.J. Radovsky, P.H. Raven and S.H. Sohmer, eds. Biogeography
of the Tropical Pacific. Assoc. of Systematics Collections and B.P.
Bishop Museum. pp. 15-31.
Kay, E.A. 1980. Little worlds of the Pacific. An essay on Pacific
Basin Biogeography. Harold L. Lyon Arboretum, University of Hawaii,
Lecture No. 9:1-40.
Kay, E.A. 1979. Hawaiian Marine Shells. Reef and Shore Fauna of
Hawaii Section 4: Mollusca. B.P. Bishop Museum Press.
Kay, E.A. 1978. Molluscan distribution patterns at Canton Atoll.
Atoll Research Bulletin No. 221:160-169.
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