Research accomplishment synoposis
  • Evolutionary forces can influence survivorship traits. I showed that the strategy of having two embryos per egg capsule results in the greatest fitness, as it occurs at the highest frequency and with the highest survivorship (Chiquillo et al. 2014)
  • A variety of factors influence habitat distribution. I used demographic monitoring techniques (e.g., herbivory experiments, quadrats, transects) of transplanted seagrass fragments. I found that the seagrass can grow in shallow habitats adjacent to reefs on Moorea, but that herbivory pressure, presumably from the reef, limits its depth distribution (Chiquillo et al. 2020). 
  • Native species can facilitate invasive species. My research illustrates the factors that influence invasion are strongly driven by the environment and facilitated by the surrounding native community (K.L. Chiquillo- Ph.D. dissertation 2021).
  • Multifaceted consequences influencing invasion success. My work published in peer-reviewed journals helped show that the invasive seagrass, Halophila stipulacea, retains the ability to successfully thrive once established in an area. It can quickly colonize unvegetated habitats and proliferate under small-scale disturbances (Willette D.A., Chiquillo, K.L. et al. 2020).​​
  • Reconstructing invasion history shows widespread secondary invasion stemmed from a particularly successful first invasion.  My research has helped show that Halophila stipulacea, native to the Western Indian Ocean, Eastern Africa, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea, is the first marine angiosperm to invade and form dense meadows in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean Sea, including the Virgin Islands (Winters G., and 19 authors, 2020, including Chiquillo, K.L). I provide the first empirical evidence that pleasure yachts, shipping vessels, and cruise ships were putative vectors of introduction. This suggests a “stepping-stone colonization pattern,” in which a widespread secondary invasion stemmed from a particularly successful first invasion (K.L. Chiquillo- Ph.D. dissertation 2021).​