Department Research
Martha Jones – Sydney Tar Ponds, Environment Canada, NSERC, NSRIT, CFI
Dr. Jones’ research interests are focused on the interactions of species and their environment, and more recently she has been investigating the effects of environmental remediation on patterns of species distribution, abundance and movement.
The primary research project being conducted by Dr. Jones and her team is a baseline survey of ecosystem health in the Sydney Tar Ponds and Sydney Harbour as the large-scale remediation of the former steel plant property gets underway.
Dr. Jones is facilitating several other multidisciplinary projects including:
- population genetics of mummichog, banded killifish and potential hybrids
- “Project UFO” researches invasive species in Cape Breton
- innovative Fisheries research on hagfish and whelk
- intermediate hosts for the oyster parasite, MSX in the Bras d’Or Lakes
In the summer of 2008, Dr. Jones’ team discovered the Japanese skeleton shrimp (Caprella mutica) on wharves around Cape Breton Island and in 2007 the team discovered the invasive swim bladder worm, Anguillicoloides crassus, inside American eels, Anguilla rostrata, from two localities on Cape Breton Island.
Tim Rawlings – National Science Foundation
Dr. Rawlings work focuses on the ecology of freshwater and marine invertebrates and those factors (both environmental and anthropogenic) that have influenced and are currently influencing their evolution through time. Since arriving at CBU, Tim has established a research program that uses snails as biomonitors of environmental pollutants to assay the level of contaminants present in Sydney Harbour and surrounding regions.
Tim uses molecular tools to explore patterns of gene flow/movement among freshwater and marine invertebrates, to interpret phylogenetic relationships among species, and to reconstruct species radiations over millions of years.
Most recently, he has employed molecular tools to determine the identity and provenance of invasive freshwater snails appearing in the southern U.S. and to elucidate vectors of introduction. His collaborations have resulted in funding from the National Science Foundation.
