Daniel J. Thornhill
Doherty Marine Biology Postdoctoral Scholar
Spring 2009
- Coral Reef Biology (BIO 284)
- ADVANCED INDEPENDENT STUDY (BIO 402)
| Phone | (207) 798-4310 |
| Title | Doherty Marine Biology Postdoctoral Scholar |
| Department | BIOLOGY |
| Work Location | 14 Hatch Science Building |
| dthornhi@bowdoin.edu |
Education
Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2005
B.S. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 1999
Research Interests
I am interested in the evolution and ecology of marine invertebrates, especially those that form symbioses with eukaryotic or prokaryotic microbes. Ultimately, my research investigates the physiological, ecological, and evolutionary processes driving speciation in marine environments. My past and current research examines a variety of marine organisms and habitats. Recently, I have studied marine organisms from tropical coral reefs, Norwegian fjords, deep-sea methane seeps, and the waters around Antarctica. I plan to continue developing a diverse and collaborative research program while at Bowdoin College. In the near term, much of my work will focus on symbioses in corals and siboglinid annelids. In addition to being also important 'keystone' species in coral reef and chemosynthetic ecosystems, these organisms offer a diversity of both host and symbiont taxa, enabling comparative testing of many ecological and evolutionary hypotheses.
Research Experience
Doherty Marine Biology Postdoctoral Scholar, Bowdoin College
August 2008 – Present
Postdoctoral Fellow, Auburn University, K.M. Halanych Advisor,
June 2006 - July 2008
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Georgia, W.K. Fitt and G.W. Schmidt Advisors,
Jan - May 2006
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow, Univ. of Georgia, W.K. Fitt Advisor, 2000 - 2005
Undergraduate Research Fellow and Laboratory Technician, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, K.M. Halanych Advisor, 1999 - 2000
Undergraduate Researcher, University of New Mexico (UNM), J.H. Brown Advisor, 1998
Undergraduate Researcher, Michigan State University (MSU), L. Clemens Advisor, 1997
Publications and Book Chapters
Thornhill DJ, Kemp DW, Sampayo EM, Schmidt GW (In press) Comparative analyses of amplicon migration behavior in differing denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) systems. Coral Reefs.
Mahon AR, Thornhill DJ, Norenburg JL, Halanych KM (2009) DNA discovers missing Antarctic nemerteans and exposes a decades-old cold case of asymmetric inventory. Polar Biology, Online First.
Thornhill DJ, Xiang Y, Fitt WK, Santos SR (2009) Reef endemism, host specificity and temporal stability in populations of symbiotic dinoflagellates from two ecologically dominant Caribbean corals. PLoS One, 4: e6262.
Simon C, Thornhill DJ, Oyarzun F, Halanych KM (2009) Genetic similarity between Boccardia proboscidea from western North American and the cultured abalone, Haliotis midae, in South Africa. Aquaculture, 294: 18-24.
Thornhill DJ, Dahlgren TG, Halanych KM (2009) Chapter 13: The evolution and ecology of Ophryotrocha (Dorvilleidae, Eunicida). Pp. 242-256 In Shain, D.H., Ed., Annelids as Model Systems in the Biological Sciences. John Wiley & Son.
Correa AMS, Brandt ME, Smith TB, Thornhill DJ, Baker AC (2009) Symbiodinium associations within diseased and healthy corals. Coral Reefs, 28: 437-448.
Thornhill DJ, Mahon AR, Norenburg JL, Halanych KM (2008) Open-ocean barriers to dispersal: a test case with the Antarctic Polar Front and Parborlasia corrugatus (Lineidae: Nemertea). Molecular Ecology, 17: 5104- 5118. PDF Supplementary Materials
Thornhill DJ, Fielman KT, Santos SR, Halanych KM (2008) Siboglinid-bacteria endosymbiosis: A model system for studying symbiotic mechanisms. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 1(2): 1-4. PDF
Thornhill DJ, Kemp DW, Bruns BU, Fitt WK, Schmidt GW (2008) Correspondence between cold tolerance and temperate biogeography in a western Atlantic Symbiodinium (Dinophyta) lineage. Journal of Phycology, 44. 1126-1135. PDF
Thornhill DJ, Wiley AA, Campbell AL, Bartol FF, Teske A, Halanych KM (2008) Endosymbionts of Siboglinum fiordicum and the phylogeny of Siboglinidae (Annelida) endosymbionts. Biological Bulletin, 214: 135-144. PDF
Thornhill DJ, LaJeunesse TC, Santos SR (2007) Measuring rDNA diversity in eukaryotic microbial systems: How intragenomic variation, pseudogenes, and PCR-artifacts bias diversity estimates. Molecular Ecology, 16: 5326-5340. PDF Supplementary Materials
Thornhill DJ, Fitt WK, Schmidt GW (2006) Highly stable symbioses among western Atlantic brooding corals. Coral Reefs, 25: 515-519. PDF
Thornhill DJ, Daniel MW, LaJeunesse TC, Fitt WK, Schmidt GW (2006) Natural infections of aposymbiotic Cassiopea xamachana from environmental pools of Symbiodinium. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 338: 50-56. PDF
Thornhill DJ, LaJeunesse TC, Kemp DW, Fitt WK, Schmidt GW (2006) Multi-year, seasonal genotypic surveys of coral-algal symbioses reveal prevalent stability or post-bleaching reversion. Marine Biology, 148: 711-722. PDF
Rotjan RD, Dimond JL, Thornhill DJ, Kemp DW, Helmuth B, Leichter J, Lewis SM, (2006) Chronic fish grazing slows recovery after bleaching. Coral Reefs, 25: 361-368. PDF
Dove S, Ortiz JC, Enriquez S, Fine M, Fisher P, Igelsias-Prieto R, Thornhill D, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2006) Response of holosymbiont pigments from the scleractinian coral Montipora monasteriata to short term heat stress. Limnology and Oceanography, 51: 1149-1158. PDF
Todd BD, Thornhill DJ, Fitt WK (2006) Patterns of inorganic phosphate uptake in Cassiopea xamachana: a bioindicator species. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 52: 515-521. PDF
LaJeunesse TC, Thornhill DJ, Cox EF, Stanton FG, Fitt WK, Schmidt GW (2004) High diversity and host specificity observed among symbiotic dinoflagellates in reef coral communities from Hawaii. Coral Reefs, 23: 596-603. PDF
Valone TJ, and Thornhill DJ (2001) Mesquite establishment in arid grasslands: an experimental investigation of the role of kangaroo rats. Journal of Arid Environments, 48: 281-288. PDF