K. David Hambright

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Limnology, Plankton and Fish Ecology, Invasive Species, Harmful Algal Blooms, and Microbial Diversity.

RESEARCH STATEMENT
Ecological interactions between freshwater consumer and prey species are the primary focus of my research. My studies have covered a broad range of organisms ranging from fishes to bacteria. I am particularly interested in understanding how consumers affect community and ecosystem level dynamics through direct and indirect effects on microbial assemblages via mechanisms such as selective consumption, alteration of competitive forces, and changes in nutrient cycling dynamics. Laboratory and field experimentation play key roles in my research, though I typically employ additional multiple but separate approaches to any particular question. Most recently, these include field demographic and biogeochemical surveys, quantitative PCR, and study of zooplankton behavior and life histories as affected by toxigenic golden algae (Prymnesium parvum). Students working in my lab are free to explore any topic in aquatic ecology and evolutionary biology. Current students are examining factors that affect golden algae distribution, both within Lake Texoma and across the Red River watershed, zooplankton feeding behaviors and life histories during acute and chronic exposures to golden algae and golden algal toxins, analytical characterization of golden algal toxins, microbial diversity across environmental gradients, ecology of invasive Zebra mussels and Harris Mud Crabs, and effects of environmental variation on population dynamics, abundances, and reproductive strategies of monogonont rotifers..

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
Remmel, E.J. & K.D. Hambright. 2012. Toxin-assisted micropredation: experimental evidence shows that contact micropredation rather than exotoxicity is the role of Prymnesium toxins. Ecology Letters 15:126-132.

Zamor, R.M., K.L. Glenn, & K.D. Hambright. 2012. Incorporating molecular tools into routine HAB monitoring programs: Using qPCR to track invasive Prymnesium. Harmful Algae 15:1-7.

Hargrave, C. W., K. D. Hambright, and L. J. Weider. 2011. Variation in resource consumption across a gradient of increasing intra- and interspecific richness. Ecology 92:1226-1235.

Remmel, E.J., N. Kohmescher, J.H. Larson, & K.D. Hambright. 2011. An experimental analysis of harmful algae-zooplankton interactions and the ultimate defense. Limnology and Oceanography 56:461-470.

Hambright, K.D., R.M. Zamor, J.D. Easton, K.G. Looper, E.J. Remmel, & A.C. Easton. 2010. Dynamics of an invasive toxigenic protist in a subtropical reservoir. Harmful Algae 9:568-577.

Cichewicz, R.H. & K.D. Hambright. 2010. A revised amino group pKa for prymnesins does not provide decisive evidence for a pH-dependent mechanism of Prymnesium parvum’s toxicity. Toxicon 55:1035-1037.

Henrikson, J.C. M.S. Gharfeh, A.C. Easton, J.D. Easton, K.L. Glenn, S.L. Mooberry, K.D. Hambright, R.H. Cichewicz. 2010. Reassessing the ichthyotoxin profile of cultured Prymnesium parvum (Golden Algae) and comparing it to samples collected from recent freshwater bloom and fish kill events in North America. Toxicon 55:1396-1404.

Hambright, K.D. 2008. Long-term zooplankton body size and species changes in a subtropical lake: implications for lake management. Fundamental and Applied Limnology 173:1-13.

Hambright, K.D., T. Zohary, W. Eckert, S. Schwartz, C.L. Schelske, and P.R. Leavitt. 2008. Human engineered hydrological changes: exploitation and destabilization of the Sea of Galilee. Ecological Applications 18:1591-1603.

Hambright, K.D., T. Zohary, and H. Güde. 2007. Microzooplankton dominate carbon flow and nutrient cycling in a warm subtropical freshwater lake. Limnology and Oceanography 52:1018-1025.

Complete CV

Publications