Kristin Hultgren, Ph.D.

Teaching and Research Interests

Professor Hultgren teaches Invertebrate Zoology (BIOL 2350), Biology II: Ecology and Evolution (BIOL 1620/1621), and Marine Biology (BIOL 3650).

Professor Hultgren studies ecological and behavioral diversity in marine invertebrates, and how species and trait diversity affect community structure. She uses phylogenetic methods, field experiments, and laboratory assays to examine these topics in a wide range of marine organisms, with a recent focus on host-symbiont and host-parasite systems. Most recently, her research examined how phylogenetic relatedness and social behavior interact to structure communities of symbiotic sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp in Caribbean coral reefs.

Biography

Professor Hultgren received her B.A. in Biology from Brown University and her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis. She has also taught at Vassar College and Bard College.