You are here: Home → Calder, Dr Lois

Profile

SAMS Deputy Head of Eduation, Head of UHI Graduate School

Profile

I have been a lecturer at SAMS, as an Academic Partner of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), since 2001 and was appointed Deputy Head of Education in 2009.  I manage the SAMS postgraduate school and contribute to the BSc Marine Science course design and management.

In 2010, I also took on the role of Head of the UHI Graduate School, responsible for the strategic development and delivery of services for postgraduate research students and supervisors.

My scientific interests include organism-sediment relationships and structural, functional aspects benthic communities. I have a particular focus on megafaunal behaviour, including feeding and burrowing, and consequences for bioturbation, bioirrigation and carbon burial and degradation.  My additional interests include the influence of environmental drivers, such as hypoxia, chemical cues, anthropogenic organic enrichment, in controlling organism behaviour and activity and determination of consequences for sediment biogeochemistry.

 

Career / education

2009 - present Deputy Head of Education and Head of UHI Graduate School
2005 - 2009 Research Scientist (NERC Band 5)
2001 - present UHI Lecturer
1992 – 2004 Research Scientist (NERC Band 6) at Scottish Association for Marine Science
1988 - 1992 PhD Deep Biotubation in Organically Enriched Sediments, University of London (Supervisor: RJA Atkinson)
Apr - Sep 1988 Research Assistant, Aberdeen University: Foraging behaviour of common seals in the Moray Firth (Paul Thompson)
Dec 1987 - Apr 1988 Research Assistant, Point Reyes Bird Observatory, California: Breeding behaviour of northern elephant seals (Bill Sydeman)
1987 Management trainee at a salmon hatchery with Marine Harvest Ltd., Scotland
Jun - Aug 1986 Research Assistant, Aberdeen University and Sea Mammal Research Unit, St Andrews: Foraging behaviour common seals in Orkney (Paul Thompson)
1983-1987 BSc (Hons) Zoology, University of Glasgow, 2(i) class

Research

Research activities

Projects

I am currently not actively involved with any research project.

 

Research grant capture

  • Coastal Ocean Benthic Observatory (COBO), European Commission funded STREP project, 2004-07. €3.34
  • Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Irish Sea, Department of Trade & Industry, 2006. £13,000
  • Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Clyde Sea, Department of Trade & Industry, 2006.  £10,000

Publications

Key publiations
  • HUGHES D.J., HATTON, A.D., NICKELL, L.A. 2004. Do biogenic sulphur compounds in phytodetritus act as cues for deposit-feeder activity? Field experiments and observations on the echiuran worm Maxmuelleria lankesteri. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 313: 175-189.
  • NICKELL L. A., K.D. BLACK, D.J. HUGHES, J. OVERNELL, T. BRAND, T.D. NICKELL, E.R. BREUER AND S.M. HARVEY. 2003. Bioturbation, sediment fluxes and community structure around a salmon cage farm in Loch Creran, Scotland. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 285-286: 221-233.
  • BURROWS M., L. ROBB, L.A. NICKELL AND D.J. HUGHES. 2003. Topography as a determinant of search paths of fishes and mobile macrocrustacea on the sediment surface. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 285-286: 135-249.
  • PARRY D.M, NICKELL L.A., KENDALL M.A., BURROWS M.T., PILGRIM D.A & JONES M.B., 2002. Comparison of abundance and spatial distribution of burrowing megafauna from diver and remotely operated vehicle observations. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 244: 89-93.
  • NICKELL L.A., ATKINSON R.J.A. & PINN E.H., 1998. Morphology of thalassinidean (Crustacea: Decapoda) mouthparts and pereiopods in relation to feeding ecology and grooming. Journal of Natural History, 32, 733-761.
  • NICKELL L.A. & SAYER M.D.J., 1998. Occurrence and activity of mobile macrofauna on a sublittoral reef on the west coast of Scotland: diel and seasonal variation. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 78: 1061-1082.
  • NICKELL L.A. & ATKINSON R.J.A., 1995. Functional morphology of burrows and trophic modes of three thalassinidean shrimp species, and a new approach to the classification of thalassinidean burrow morphology. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 128, 181-197.
  • NICKELL L.A., ATKINSON R.J.A., HUGHES D.J., ANSELL A.D. & SMITH C.J., 1995. Burrow Morphology of the Echiuran Worm, Maxmuelleria lankesteri (Echiura: Bonellidae), and a brief review of burrow morphology of the Echiura. Journal of Natural History, 29, 871-885.
  • NICKELL L.A. & ATKINSON R.J.A., 1994. Observations on the behaviour of Thalassema thalassemum (Echiura: Echiuridae). Journal of the Marine Biological Association ot the UK, 74, 963-966.

 

To access a full list of my publications, please use the search facility in the box to the right.

External

External activities / measures of esteem
  • Member of Universities Scotland Research & Knowledge Exchange Committee Research Training Sub-Committee (RKEC-RT) 2010-present
  • Member of UK Council for Graduate Education 2009-present
  • External Examiner for School of Biological & Earth Science programmes, BSc (Hons) Biology/Applied Biology and BSc Zoology/Applied Zoology, at Liverpool John Moores University, 2004-08.

Teaching

Education activities

Programme leadership

  • MRes in Marine System Science (joint delivery UHI and University of St Andrews) with responsibility for course design, development and implementation 

 

Module leadership

 

Lecturing

Beyond lectures for the BSc (Hons) Marine Science modules I lead, I also contribute lectures to:

  • Marine Pollution (Year 3)
  • Zoology (Year 3)
  • Sediment Processes (Year 3)
 
My contact details

Dr Lois Calder SAMS

Dr Lois Calder

E: lois.calder@sams.ac.uk

T: +44 ()1631 559 242

F: +44 (0)1631 559 001

Scottish Marine Institute

Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK

Publication List
Back to profile