Biology & Marine Biology

Faculty & Staff

KH.jpgKenneth M. Halanych, Professor
Executive Director of the Center for Marine Science

Ph.D., University of Texas
B.S., Wake Forrest University
Center for Marine Science
5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane Wilmington, NC 28409
halanychk@uncw.edu | https://halanych-lab.github.io

 Research Interests:

"Marine invertebrate evolution, marine genomics, evolutionary origins and relationships of major metazoan lineages, molecular systematics and phylogenetic theory, Antarctic biogeography, diversification of chemosynthetic fauna (especially siboglinids)."

 

Select publications:

Tassia, M. G. , K. T. David, J. P. Townsend, K. M. Halanych. In Press. TIAMMAt: Leveraging biodiversity to revise protein domain models, evidence from innate immunity. Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Oyekwe, O., K. M. Halanych. 2021. Genome-wide characterization of LTR retrotransposons in the non-model deep-sea annelid Lamellibrachia luymesi. BMC Genomics  22:466

Halanych, K. M., C. H. Ainsworth, E. E. Cordes, R. E. Dodge, M. Huettel, I.A. Mendelssohn, S. A. Murawski, C. B. Paris-Limouzy, P. T. Schwing, R. F. Shaw, T. Sutton. 2021. Effects of petroleum by-products and dispersants on ecosystems. Oceanography 34:152-163, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.123.

Kong, L., K. M. Kocot, Y. Yang, L. Qi, Q. Li, K. M. Halanych. 2020. Mitogenomics reveals phylogenetic relationships of Arcoida (Mollusca, Bivalvia) and multiple independent expansions in mitochondrial genome size. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 150: 106857.

Li, Y, M. G. Tassia, D. S. Waits, V. E. Bogantes, K. T. David, K. M. Halanych. 2019. Genomic adaptations to chemosymbiosis in the deep-sea seep-dwelling tubeworm Lamellibrachia luymesi (Siboglinidae, Annelida). BMC Biology 17:91.

Kocot, K. M., C. Todt, N. Mikkelsen, K. M. Halanych. 2019. Phylogenomics of Aplacophora (Mollusca, Aculifera) and a solenogaster without a foot. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286:20190115.

Li, Y., M. R. Liles, K. M. Halanych. 2018. Endosymbiont genomes yield clues of tube worm success. ISME Journal. 12:2785-2795. /doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0220-z

Brannock, P. M., D. R. Learman, A. R. Mahon, S. R. Santos, K. M. Halanych. 2018. Meiobenthic community composition and biodiversity along a 5500 km transect of Western Antarctica: a metabarcoding analysis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 603:47-60.

Halanych, K. M., A. R. Mahon. 2018. Biogeographic patterns of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean: Moving the field forward. Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 49:355-378.

Costa-Paiva, E.M., C.G. Schrago, K.M. Halanych. 2017. Broad phylogenetic occurrence of the oxygen-binding hemerythrins in bilaterians Genome Biology and Evolution 9: 2580–2591.

Whelan, N. V., K. M. Kocot, A. B. Kohn, T. P. Moroz, K. Mukherjee, P. Williams, G. Paulay, L. L. Moroz, K. M. Halanych. 2017. Ctenophore relationships and their placement as the sister group to all other animals. Nature Ecology & Evolution  1: 1737–1746.

Galaska, M. P., C. J. Sands, S. R. Santos, A. R. Mahon, K. M. Halanych. 2017. Crossing the divide: Admixture across the Antarctic Polar Front revealed by the brittle star Astrotoma agassizii. Biological Bulletin 232: 198–211.

Tassia, M. G., N. V. Whelan, K. M. Halanych. 2017. Toll-like receptor pathway evolution in deuterostomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114: 7055-7060.

Kocot, K. M. T. H. Struck, J. Merkel, D. S. Waits, C. Todt, P. M. Brannock, D.A. Weese, J. T. Cannon, L. L. Moroz, B. Leib, K. M. Halanych. 2017. Phylogenomics of Lophotrochozoa with consideration of systematic error. Systematic Biology 66: 256-282.