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 Water Initiative Participants

Plankton Ecology - Paleoecology

Dr. W. Charles Kerfoot, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University

Education

B.A., Biology, Geology, University of Kansas
Ph.D., Zoology, University of Michigan
Post Doctorate, University of Washington

 W. Charles Kerfoot

Research and Teaching Interests

Dr. Kerfoot's laboratory specializes on the food web structure, ecology and paleoecology of lake communities. Recently funded research includes five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) projects on Lakes Superior (KITES) and Lake Michigan (EEGLES), a two-year NSF award on Biocomplexity, a two-year NSF project on groundwater-diatom benthic coupling, in addition to regionally funded work on mercury and copper. Our portion of the KITES and EEGLES projects examined how different zooplankton populations develop in nearshore and offshore waters, the life-history importance of recruitment from diapause eggs, and how the Keweenaw current transports individuals and diapause eggs around the lake, creating “metapopulation“ dynamics. Details include genetic characterization of diapause egg "seed banks", hatching of eggs, cloning, sequencing, and testing how ancestral individuals differ from present-day populations (“resurrection ecology”). Work on exotic species features interactions with fishes, including direct estimates of zooplankton mortality (Bythotrephes) due to fish foraging, how zooplankton hide in open waters, how fish disperse certain zooplankton propagules, and use of remote sensing techniques to help characterize temperature regimes.

Related Activities

Coordinating Editor, Planktonic Biodiversity: Scaling Up And Down, Special Issue, Limnology & Oceanography
Director, Lake Superior Ecosystem Research Center, MTU
Past Interim Director and Steering Committee, Remote Sensing Institute, MTU

Selected Publications

Kerfoot, W. C., G. G. Mittelbach, N. G. Hairston, Jr. and J. J. Elser. 2004. Planktonic biodiversity: Scaling up and down. Limnol. Oceanogr. 49: 1225-1228.

Kerfoot, W.C. and L. J. Wieder. 2004. Experimental paleoecology (resurrection ecology): Chasing Van Valen’s red queen hypothesis. Limnol. Oceanogr. 49: 1300-1316.

Jarnagin, S. T., W. C. Kerfoot and B. K. Swan 2004. Zooplankton life cycles: Direct documentation of pelagic births and deaths relative to diapausing egg production. Limnol. Oceanogr. 49: 1317-1332.

Kerfoot, W. C., J. W. Budd, B. J. Eadie, H. A. Vanderploeg and M. Agy. 2004. Winter storms: Sequential sediment traps record Daphnia ephippial produciton, resuspension and sediment interactions. Limnol. Oceanogr. 49: 1365-1381.

Kerfoot, W.C., S.L. Harting, R. Rossmann and J.A. Robbins. 2002. Elemental mercury in copper, silver and gold ores: an unexpected contribution to Lake Superior sediments with global implications. J. Geochemistry 2:185-202.

J.W. Budd, W. C. Kerfoot, S. Green and M. Julius. 2002 Donuts in the Desert? Winter Production in Lake Michigan shows unexpected vertical structure. Ocean Color Spectrum. Spring/Summer pp.33-34.