Ryan F. Hechinger Associate Research Biologist Marine Science Institute University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150 hechinger@lifesci.ucsb.edu 805-893-3998 Office: Marine Biotech (Bldg. 555), Rm. 2014 Research interests I pursue many sorts of questions in organismal biology, strongly emphasizing parasites and parasitism. I focus quite a bit on community, population, and evolutionary ecological issues. I deal with the metabolic theory of ecology, phylogeography, population genetics, invasion biology, and good ol’ fashioned descriptive parasitology. I’m inordinately fond of trematodes, parasitic castrators (body snatcher parasites), and tidal wetlands. Two major and related goals underlie much of my research. One goal is to evaluate the importance of parasites and parasitism for various ecological patterns and processes. Parasites are typically ignored in population, community, and macroecological research. How does putting parasites into the picture change our view of reality? The other major goal is to reap the benefits of using parasites and their hosts as tractable study systems to tackle general ecological and evolutionary theory. For example, hosts provide natural, discrete replicates of parasite assemblages. This can facilitate novel examination of community structure and dynamics. An example from the evolutionary side of things, parasitic castrators —which steal host bodies—can allow unique and powerful tests concerning general forces driving adaptive evolution. An aspect to both of the above goals is that consideration of parasites can also test the robustness of proposed universal ecological and evolutionary principles. It’s a no-brainer that generalizations about life should pertain to most life. But parasites frequently go unrecognized in empirical generalizations or in theory constructed to characterize life. Parasites are a massive component of species diversity. They also differ in many basic ways from free-living species. Despite these differences, parasites must operate under the same fundamental rules as the rest of life. Therefore, the inclusion of parasites can test, refine, and buttress our efforts to construct ecological and evolutionary schemas that apply to all life forms. My colleagues and I also deal with directly applied issues. One such project entails developing larval trematodes in snail populations as eco-indicator tools for assessing ecosystem ‘health’. Another current applied project involves assessing the use of parasitic castrators to biologically control invasive snails. To answer questions, I use observations and experiments from the field, lab, and computer. Additionally, I work with many excellent people. Publications 26. Hechinger RF, KD Lafferty, and AM Kuris. in press. Parasites. in JH Brown, RM Sibly, A Kodric-Brown, editors. Metabolic ecology: a scaling approach. Blackwells Publishing, Oxford. 25. Hechinger RF, KD Lafferty, AP Dobson, JH Brown, and AM Kuris. 2011. A common scaling rule for the abundance, productivity, and energetics of parasitic and free-living species. Science. 333: 445-448. pdf 24. Miura O, ME Torchin, E Birmingham, DK Jacobs, and RF Hechinger. 2011. Flying shells: historical dispersal of marine snails across Central America. Proceedings of the Royal Society-B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1599. 23. Vidal-Martinez, ML Aguirre-Macedo, J McLaughlin, AG Jaramillo, JC Shaw, A James, RF Hechinger, et al. in press. Digenean metacercariae of fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll. Journal of Helminthology. 22. Hechinger RF, KD Lafferty, JP McLaughlin, BL Fredensborg, TC Huspeni, J Lorda, PK Sandhu, JC Shaw, et al. 2011. Food webs including parasites, biomass, body sizes, and life stages, for three California/Baja California estuaries. Ecology. 92: 791. [data paper] 21. Hechinger RF, AC Wood, and AM Kuris. 2011. Social organization in a flatworm: trematode parasites form soldier and reproductive castes. Proceedings of the Royal Society-B: Biological Sciences. 278: 656-665. pdf 20. Hechinger RF. 2010. Mortality affects adaptive allocation to growth and reproduction: field evidence from a guild of body snatchers. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 10: 136. article 19. Shaw JC, RF Hechinger, KD Lafferty, and AM Kuris. 2010. Ecology of the brain trematode Euhaplorchis californiensis and its host, the California killifish (Fundulus parvipinnis). Journal of Parasitology. 96: 482-490. pdf 18. Hechinger RF, KD Lafferty, FT Mancini III, RR Warner, and AM Kuris. 2009. How large is the hand inside the puppet? Ecological and evolutionary effects on the mass of trematode parasitic castrators in their snail host. Evolutionary Ecology. 23: 651-667. pdf 17. Rigby MC, RSK Sharma, RF Hechinger, TR Platt, and JC Weaver. 2008. Two new species of Camallanus (Nematoda: Camallanidae) from freshwater turtles in Queensland, Australia. Journal of Parasitology. 94: 1364-1370. pdf 16. Hechinger RF, KD Lafferty, and AM Kuris. 2008. Diversity increases biomass for trematode parasitic castrators in snails. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 275:2707-2714. pdf 15. Dobson A, KD Lafferty, AM Kuris, RF Hechinger, and W Jetz. 2008. Homage to Linneaus: How many parasites? How many hosts? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105:11482-11489. pdf 14. Kuris A, RF Hechinger, JC Shaw, KL Whitney, ML Aguirre-Macedo, C Boch, AP Dobson, et al. 2008. Ecosystem energetic implications of parasite and free-living biomass in three estuaries. Nature. 454:515-518. pdf 13. Hechinger RF, KD Lafferty, and AM Kuris. 2008. Trematodes indicate biodiversity in the Chilean intertidal zone and Lake Tanganyika. Journal of Parasitology. 94:966-968. pdf 12. Hechinger RF. 2007. Annotated key to the trematode species infecting Batillaria attramentaria (Prosobranchia: Batillariidae) as a first intermediate host. Parasitology International. 56:287-296. pdf 11. Hechinger RF, KD Lafferty, TC Huspeni, A Brooks, and AM Kuris. 2007. Can parasites be indicators of free-living diversity? Relationships between the species richness and abundance of larval trematodes with that of local fishes and benthos. Oecologia. 151:82-92 pdf 10. Whitney KL, RF Hechinger, AM Kuris, and KD Lafferty. 2007. Endangered species and parasites: light-footed clapper rail (Rallus longirostris levipes) affects parasite community structure in coastal wetlands. Ecological Applications. 17:1694-1702. pdf 9. Lafferty KD, RF Hechinger, JC Shaw, KL Whitney, and AM Kuris. 2006. Food webs and parasites in a salt marsh ecosystem. Pages 119-134 in SK Collinge, and C Ray, editors. Disease ecology: community structure and pathogen dynamics. Oxford University Press, Oxford. pdf 8. Miura O, AM Kuris, ME Torchin, RF Hechinger, and S Chiba. 2006. Parasites alter host phenotype and create a new ecological niche for snail hosts. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273:1323-1328. pdf 7. Miura O, ME Torchin, AM Kuris, RF Hechinger, and S Chiba. 2006. Introduced cryptic species of parasite exhibit different invasion pathways. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103:19818-19823. pdf 6. Hechinger RF, and KD Lafferty. 2005. Host diversity begets parasite diversity: bird final hosts and trematodes in snail intermediate hosts. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 272:1059-1066. pdf 5. Huspeni TC, RF Hechinger, and KD Lafferty. 2005. Trematode parasites as estuarine indicators: opportunities, applications and comparisons with conventional community approaches. Pages 297-314 in S Bortone, editor. Estuarine indicators. CRC Press, Boca Raton. pdf 4. Lafferty KD, RF Hechinger, J Lorda, and L Soler. 2005. Trematodes associated with mangrove habitat in Puerto Rican salt marshes. Journal of Parasitology 91:697-699. pdf 3. Miura O, AM Kuris, ME Torchin, RF Hechinger, EJ Dunham, and S Chiba. 2005. Molecular-genetic analyses reveal cryptic species of trematodes in the intertidal gastropod, Batillaria cumingi (Crosse). International Journal for Parasitology 35:793-801. pdf 2. Torchin ME, RF Hechinger, TC Huspeni, KL Whitney, and KD Lafferty. 2005. The introduced ribbed mussel (Geukensia demissa) in Estero de Punta Banda, Mexico: interactions with the native cord grass, Spartina foliosa. Bioinvasions 7:607-614. pdf 1. Rigby MC, RF Hechinger, and L Stevens. 2002. Why should parasite resistance be costly? Trends in Parasitology 18:116-120. pdf   back to top back to people page

Marine Science Institute University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150