Dr. William Font - Curriculum Vitae
Professor Emeritus and Scholar in Residence
Dr. William Font
Professor of Biological Sciences
Biology Building Room 160
(985) 549-2476
Education:
B.S. (Biological Sciences) Tulane University, 1966
M.S. (Zoology) Louisiana State University, 1972
Ph.D. (Zoology) Louisiana State University, 1975
Dissertation: An Ecological Approach to the Taxonomy of Alloglossidium
Research Interests:
My research is focused on the ecology, evolution, and biodiversity of parasites. Among my 75 peer reviewed publications are descriptions of new genera and species of trematode parasites. For over 10 years, funded by the Hawai’i Division of Aquatic Resources, I conducted pioneering studies on parasites of native Hawaiian stream fishes. More recently, my research on the trematode genus Alloglossidium was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Currently, I am conducting biodiversity studies on the parasites of freshwater and estuarine fishes in southeastern Louisiana.
Professional Activities:
Associate Editor for Parasitology - American Midland Naturalist (1990-1996)
Associate Editor - Journal of Parasitology (1997 – 2007)
Editorial Board - Comparative Parasitology
Review Editor - Diseases of Aquatic Organisms
Professional Societies:
American Society of Parasitologists
Southeastern Society of Parasitologists (Past President)
Helminthological Society of Washington
Honors:
Elon E. Byrd Memorial Prize in Parasitology - SE Society of Parasitologists (1975)
University of Wisconsin Regents Award for Faculty Development (1980-1981)
Faculty Grants Scholar, U. Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1983-1984)
President’s Award for Excellence in Research - Southeastern Louisiana Univ (1994)
Outstanding Teacher of the Year – Gamma Beta Phi Society of Southeastern Louisiana University (2001 – 2002)
Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society (elected 2004)
Clark P. Read Mentor Award – American Society of Parasitologists (2012)
Selected Publications:
Font, W.F. and K.C. Corkum. 1975. Alloglossidium renale n. sp. from the fresh-water shrimp, Palaemonetes kadiakensis Rathbun, and A. progeneticum n. comb. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 94: 421- 424.
Font, W.F. 1983. Seasonal population dynamics of five species of intestinal helminths of the brook stickleback, Culaea inconstansCanadian Journal of Zoology 61: 2129-2137.
Font, W.F. 1987. Partial life cycle and fish hosts of Bolbogonotylus corkumi gen. et sp. n. and Cryptogonimus chyli Osborn, 1903 (Digenea: Cryptogonimidae) in Wisconsin. Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington 54: 191-196.
Font, W.F. and D.C. Tate. 1994. Helminth parasites of native Hawaiian freshwater fishes: an example of extreme ecological isolation. Journal of Parasitology 80: 682-688.
Font, W.F. 1997. Improbable colonists: helminth parasites of freshwater fishes on an oceanic island. Micronesica 30 (1): 105-115.
Font, W.F. 1998. Parasites in paradise: patterns of helminth distribution among streams and fish hosts in Hawai’i. Journal of Helminthology 72: 307-311.
Fiorillo, R.A. and W.F. Font. 1999. Seasonal dynamics and community structure of the helminths of Spotted sunfish, Lepomis miniatus (Osteichthyes: Centrarchidae) from an oligohaline estuary in Southeastern Louisiana, U.S.A. Journal of the Helminthological Society of Washington 66: 101-110.
Smythe, A.B. and W.F. Font. 2001. Phylogenetic analysis of Alloglossidium (Digenea: Macroderoididae) and related genera: life-cycle evolution and taxonomic revision. Journal of Parasitology 87: 386-391.
Criscione, C.D. and W.F. Font. 2001. The guest playing host: colonization of the introduced Mediterranean gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, by helmith parasites in southeastern Louisiana.Journal of Parasitology 87: 1273-1278.
Curran, S.S., R.M. Overstreet, and W.F. Font. 2002. Thometrema lotzi sp. nov. (Digenea, Derogenidae) from freshwater and brackish water fishes of Louisiana and Mississippi (USA). Acta Parasitologica 47: 14-19.
Steinauer, M.L. and W.F. Font. 2003. Seasonal dynamics of the helminths of bluegill ( Lepomis macrochirus) in the subtropics. Journal of Parasitology 89: 324-328.
Vincent, A.G. and W.F. Font. 2003. Host specificity and population structure of two exotic helminths, Camallanus cotti (Nematoda) and Bothriocephalus acheilognathi (Cestoda), parasitizing exotic fishes in Waianu Stream, O’ahu, Hawai’i. Journal of Parasitology 89: 540-544.
Font, W.F. 2003. Global spread of parasites: what do Hawaiian streams tell us? BioScience 53: 1061-1067.
Kasl, E. L., C. T. McAllister, H. W. Robison, M. B. Connior, W. F. Font, and C. D. Criscione. 2015. Evolutionary consequence of a change in life cycle complexity: a link between precocious development and evolution towards female-biased sex allocation in a hermaphroditic parasite. Evolution: International Journal of Organic Evolution 69: 3156-3170.
Selected Research Grants:
- Community Ecology of Parasites of Hawaiian Freshwater Fishes. State of Hawai'i, Division of Aquatic Resources.
- Helminth Parasites of Native and Exotic Stream Fishes on the Island of Hawai'i. State of Hawai'i, Division of Aquatic Resources.
- Parasite Community Structure of Estuarine Fishes as a Bioindicator of Environmental Pollution, United States Environmental Protection Agency.
- Parasites in Hawaiian Stream Fishes: Relationship of Stream Diversions or Channelization with the Incidence of Parasitism in Native Stream Fishes. State of Hawai'i, Division of Aquatic Resources.
- Parasitological Assessment of Hawaiian Stream Fishes: Comparison of Parasite Populations in Unaltered Streams and Streams Modified by Channelization, Diversion, or Introduction of Non-Native Fishes. State of Hawai'i, Division of Aquatic Resources.
- Mitigating the Spread of Zebra Musssels from Mississippi River Diversions, United States Environmental Protection Agency.
- Biodiversity in the parasitic fluke genus Alloglossidium: evolutionary origins of changes in life cycle complexity National Sciences Foundation (with C. D. Criscione, Texas A & M University)
