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Dr Kirsten DonaldEmail kirsten.donald@otago.ac.nz

Phone 64-3-479-5096

  • BScHons in Marine and Environmental Biology; University of St Andrews, 1992
  • PhD in Micro- and Molecular Biology; University of Warwick, 1997
    Comparative nutrition of marine phytoplankton

Research Interests

  • Biogeography and evolution of topshells
  • Biogeography and evolution of digenea
  • Interrelationships and co-evolution of host topshells and their parasitic trematodes
  • Gene expression in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas
  • Primary production and phosphorous nutrition in marine phytoplankton

Current Postdoctoral Project

Using molecular techniques to determine whether topshells and the parasitic trematodes they harbour share a tight co-evolutionary relationship. (Marsden funding) Collaborator: Hamish Spencer

Publications

Donald, K. M., Preston, J., Williams, S. T., Reid, D. G., Winter, D., Alvarez, R., … Spencer, H. G. (2012). Phylogenetic relationships elucidate colonization patterns in the intertidal grazers Osilinus Philippi, 1847 and Phorcus Risso, 1826 (Gastropoda: Trochidae) in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution, 62(1), 35-45. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.09.002 Journal - Research Article

Williams, S. T., Donald, K. M., Spencer, H. G., & Nakano, T. (2010). Molecular systematics of the marine gastropod families Trochidae and Calliostomatidae (Mollusca: Superfamily Trochoidea). Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution, 54(3), 783-809. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2009.11.008 Journal - Research Article

Donald, K. M., Keeney, D. B., & Spencer, H. G. (2011). Contrasting population makeup of two intertidal gastropod species that differ in dispersal opportunities. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology & Ecology, 396(2), 224-232. doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2010.10.028 Journal - Research Article

Donald, K. M., Sijnja, A., & Spencer, H. G. (2007). Species assignation amongst morphologically cryptic larval Digenea isolated from New Zealand topshells (Gastropoda: Trochidae). Parasitology Research, 101, 433-441. Journal - Research Article

Leung, T. L. F., Donald, K. M., Keeney, D. B., Koehler, A. V., Peoples, R. C., & Poulin, R. (2009). Trematode parasites of Otago Harbour (New Zealand) soft-sediment intertidal ecosystems: Life cycles, ecological roles and DNA barcodes. New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research, 43(4), 857-865. doi: 10.1080/00288330909510044 Journal - Research Article

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