Kara Layton

Kara Layton

Assistant Professor
✅ Accepting Graduate Students

Education

  • PDF, Bedford Institute of Oceanography & MUN
  • PhD, University of Western Australia & Western Australian Museum
  • BSc, MSc, University of Guelph

Research

The Layton Lab has various areas of interests including: Systematics & phylogenomics; color pattern variation and mimicry; ecological and evolutionary genomics; museum genomics, and (meta)barcoding, which more projects planned for the future! 

To read more about the research being conducted by the Layton Lab team, visit the 'Research' page on the Layton Lab website.

Current Members

  • Anahy Garza, PhD Student
  • Giada Spagliardi, PhD Student
  • Krystyn Forbes, PhD Student (co-supervised with Prof. Cassidy D'Aloia)
  • Ethan Ross, PhD Student @ University of Aberdeen
  • Victoria Gilman, PhD Student @ University of Aberdeen

Lab Opportunities

If you're interested in joining the Layton Lab, please send an email with your CV, a brief statement detailing your research experience and interests and why you think our lab is a good fit for you directly to Dr. Layton (kara.layton@utoronto.ca). 

Recent Publications

For a complete list of publications, visit Dr. Layton's Google Scholar page.
 
  • Prieto-Baños S, Layton KKS. 2025. Tracing the evolution of key traits in dorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 20, e0317704.
  • Layton KKS, Wilson NG. 2024. Validating a molecular clock for nudibranchs – no fossils to the rescue. Ecology and Evolution 14, e11014.​
  • Layton KKS, Carvajal JI, Wilson NG. 2020. Mimicry and mitonuclear discordance in nudibranchs: new insights from exon capture phylogenomics. Ecology and Evolution 10, 11966–11982
  • Layton KKS, Brieuc MSO, Castilho R, et al. 2024. Predicting the future of our oceans—Evaluating genomic forecasting approaches in marine species. Global Change Biology 30, e17236
  • Layton KKS, Bradbury IR. 2022. Harnessing the power of multi-omics data for predicting climate change response. Journal of Animal Ecology 91, 1064–1072
  • Layton KKS, Snelgrove PVR, Dempson JB, et al. 2021. Genomic evidence for past and future climate-linked loss in a migratory Arctic fish. Nature Climate Change 11, 158–165