Daphne Fautin studies the ecology and systematics of sea anemones and their symbionts. She was a professor of invertebrate zoology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas from 1995-2015.

Fautin obtained her bachelor's in biology in 1966 from Beloit College, graduating magna cum laude. She recieved her PhD in 1972 from the University of California, Berkeley, after completing her dissertation on the natural history of the sea anemone Epiactis prolifera.

In 1975, she became a research biologist in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. In 1988 she became the Director of Research there. She began her career at KU in 1989 as an adjunct professor.

She has served on the International Steering Committee of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, the US National Committee for the International Union of Biological Sciences, and the US National Committee for the Census of Marine Life (which she has also chaired). She has served on the editorial board of several scientific publications and has taught a course on scientific communication.