Bio:
B.A. Princeton, 1953Ph.D. Yale, 1957
Research Interests:
 The general aim of my research is to increase understanding of the evolutionary processes that have led to high biotic diversity in tropical marine environments. Its more specific goal is to elucidate important evolutionary trends in diversity, morphology, distribution, and ecology of one of the largest families of marine molluscs, the Conidae, from its early Cenozoic origin through the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. The focal genus Conus is particularly important because of its immense size (about 500 extant and at least as many extinct species), its extensive range of variation in diversity, geographic distribution, ecology, and development, and its highly neurotoxic venoms. Current research efforts emphasize the evolution of taxonomic diversity, Tertiary marine paleoecology, and relationships between larval developmental mode and biogeographic patterns. Prior to my retirement, some of my graduate students addressed similar questions in their research, but most developed independent studies in diverse areas of functional morphology, ecology and distribution of a variety of local as well as tropical marine invertebrates. Currently, a postdoctoral researcher is using molecular genetic methods to generate hypotheses of the phylogenetic relationships of Conus species. Undergraduates in the lab are studying shell and radular tooth morphometrics. These data will be used to better understand the feeding process in Conus and to test phylogenetic hypotheses resulting from the gene sequences.
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Selected Publications:
Espino, S.S., Kohn, A.J., et al. (2008) Feeding behavior, phylogeny, and toxinology of Conus furvus Reeve, 1843 (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda: Conidae). Nautilus, 122:143-150.Kohn, A.J. (2007) Biodiversity patterns of tropical Indo-Pacific marine molluscs: Approaches to systematics and phylogeny. Proceeding of the Fourth National Workshop on Marine Molluscs, Nha Trang, 5-6/09/2005, pp.40-47. (In Vietnamese) Duda, T.F. Jr., Kohn, A.J. (2005) Species-level phylogeography and evolutionary history of the hyperdiverse marine gastropod genus Conus. Molec. Phylog. Evol. 34: 257-272. Kohn, A.J., Blahm, A.M. (2005) Anthropogenic effects on marine invertebrate diversity and abundance: Intertidal infauna along an environmental gradient at Esperance, Western Australia. In: The marine flora and fauna of Esperance, Western Australia, F. E. Wells, D.I. Walker and G.A. Kendrick, eds. Western Australian Museum, Perth, 1: 1-23. Kohn, A.J. (2001) Maximal species richness in Conus: diversity, diet and habitat on reefs of northeast Papua New Guinea. Coral Reefs, 20: 25-38. Duda, T.F. Jr., A.J. Kohn, and S.R. Palumbi. (2001) Origins of diverse feeding ecologies within Conus, a genus of venomous marine gastropods. Biol. Jour. Linn. Soc. London, 73: 391-409. Kohn, A.J. and I. Arua (1999) An early Pleistocene molluscan assemblage from Fiji: gastropod faunal composition, paleoecology and biogeography. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 46: 99-145. Kohn, A.J. (1999) Anti-predator defences of shelled gastropods. In: Functional morphology of the invertebrate skeleton, E. Savazzi, ed. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 169-181. Kohn, A.J., M. Nishi and B. Pernet (1999) Snail spears and scimitars: A character analysis of Conus radular teeth. Jour. Moll. Studies 68: 461-481. The Conus Biodiversity Website http://biology.burke.washington.edu/conus/index.php
Teaching Interests:
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