Assistant Professor;
Ph.D., Yale University, 1986

Research and Professional Interests:

Sponges are different from all other animals in the extreme simplicity and homogeneity of their construction. They are also one of the most diverse, abundant, and colorful groups in a variety of hard substratum marine systems, and many of their functional roles in these systems are not duplicated by members of other groups. I study the ecology of sponges and the organisms with which they interact as mutualistic partners, competitors, and prey, especially in coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and mangroves. I have been focusing on several conceptual issues that are especially intriguing for sponges: a) ecology and evolution of mutualisms; b) biogeographic and habitat patterns of diversity and abundance, and how these are influenced by interactions and life histories; and c) effects of physical disturbance and pathogens on population and community dynamics, focusing especially on the importance of different growth forms and life histories. My primary approaches to research are experimental manipulations in the field, combined with biogeographic comparisons; and most of my field work is in Belize, Panama, and the Florida Keys.

Selected Publications:

Wulff, J. L., and L. W. Buss. 1979. Do sponges help hold coral reefs together? Nature 281:474-475.

Wulff, J. L. 1984. Sponge-mediated coral reef growth and rejuvenation. Coral Reefs 3:157-163.

Wulff, J. L. 1985. Dispersal and survival of fragments of coral reef sponges. Proceedings of the Fifth International Coral Reef Congress 5:119-124.

Wulff, J. L. 1985. Clonal organisms and the evolution of mutualism. Pages 437-446 in J. B. C. Jackson, L. W. Buss, and R. E. Cook, ed. Population Biology and Evolution of Clonal Organisms. Yale University Press, New Haven.

Wulff, J. L. 1986. Variation in clone structure of fragmenting coral reef sponges. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 27:211-230.

Wulff, J. L. 1990. Patterns and processes of size change in Caribbean demosponges of branching morphology. In: Rützler, K., ed. New Perspectives in Sponge Biology. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Wulff, J. L. 1991. Asexual fragmentation, genotype success, and population dynamics of erect branching sponges. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 149:227-247.

Wulff, J. L. 1994. Sponge-feeding by Caribbean angelfishes, trunkfishes, and filefishes. Pages 265-271 in R. W. M. van Soest, T. M. G. van Kempen, and J.-C. Braekman, eds. Sponges in Time and Space: Biology, Chemistry, Paleontology. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

Wulff, J. L. 1995. Effects of a hurricane on survival and orientation of large, erect coral reef sponges. Coral Reefs 14:55-61.

Wulff, J. L. 1995. Sponge-feeding by the Caribbean starfish Oreaster reticulatus. Marine Biology 123:313-325.

Wulff, J. L. 1996. Do the same sponge species live on both the Caribbean and eastern Pacific sides of the Isthmus of Panama? Bulletin of the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences 66:165-173.

Wulff, J.L. 1996. Mutualisms among species of coral reef sponges. Ecology 78:146-159.

Wulff, J. L. 1997. Parrotfish predation on cryptic sponges of Caribbean coral reefs. Marine Biology 129:41-52.

Wulff, J. L. 1997. Causes and consequences of differences in sponge diversity and abundance between the Caribbean and eastern Pacific at Panama. Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium, Panama 2:1377-1382.

Wulff, J. L. 2000. Sponge predators may determine differences in sponge fauna between two sets of mangrove cays, Belize Barrier Reef. Atoll Research Bulletin 477:251-263.

Wulff, J.L. 2001. Assessing and monitoring coral reef sponges: Why and how? Bulletin of Marine Science 69:831-846.

Wulff, J. L. 2002. Functional roles of sponges on coral reefs. Pages 38-40 in B. A. Best, R. S. Pomeroy, C. M. Balboa, eds. Implications for Coral Reef Management and Policy: Relevant Findings from the 9th International Coral Reef Symposium. USAID, Washington, D.C.

Wulff, J.L. 2004. Sponges on mangrove roots, Twin Cays, Belize:  Early stages of community assembly.  Atoll Research Bulletin 519:1-10.

Wulff, J.L. 2005.  Trade-offs in resistance to competitors and predators, and their effects on the diversity of tropical marine sponges.  Journal of Animal Ecology 74:313-321.

Wulff, J.L. 2006. Rapid diversity and abundance decline in a Caribbean coral reef sponge community. Biological Conservation 127:167-176.

Wulff, J.L. 2006. Ecological interactions of marine sponges. Canadian Journal of Zoology Special Series 84:146-166.

Wulff, J.L. 2006. Resistance vs. recovery: morphological strategies of coral reef sponges. Functional Ecology 20:699-708.

Lang ,J.L., Wulff, J.L., Fretwell, C.R., Roberson, K.A. 2006. Coral reef conservation through outreach education. Proceedings of the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium, Okinawa, 1699-1702.

Wulff, J.L. 2006. A simple model of growth form-dependent recovery from disease in coral reef sponges, and implications for monitoring. Coral Reefs 25:419-426.

Wulff, J.L. 2006. Sponge systematics by starfish: Predators distinguish cryptic sympatric species of Caribbean fire sponges, Tedania ignis and Tedania klausi n. sp. (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida). Biological Bulletin 211:83-94.

Graduate Students:

Biggs, Brendan
Swain, Timothy D