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Support Scientist in Polychaete Taxonomy

Expertise

My work has almost all been on the small invertebrates found in deep sea marine sediments. This size category is known as macrofauna.  We sample in many parts of the world and often at sites that have not been visited before so that many of the animals are undescribed and require separating into putative species.  I specialise in speciation of the Polychaeta (bristle worms).

During 2008 I worked on the effect of washing toxins, particularly PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning) from scallop meats as part of the international EU project SPIES-Detox. This also involved artificially toxifying scallops with the cultured toxic algae Alexandrium tamerense held as part of the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa.

I am experienced with oceanic marine operations with coring and trawling equipment: spade boxcorer (USNEL and NIOZ), multiple and megacorer, Agassiz trawl and WHOI pattern epibenthic sled.

I manage the general biology laboratory 2 at the Scottish Marine Institute including chemical and electrical safety. I also maintain optical microscopes and photo-microscope equipment (both digital and traditional). More on the Institute's analytical capabilities....

I am also in charge of the specimen store including the organisation and curation of the on-going deep sea invertebrate collection initiated by the late Professor John Gage in 1974.

I am also looking after Biodiversity Pro.

I am a member of the Ecology Department.

 

Career / education

 

Research

Research project involvement
  • Oceans 2025 Arctic prgramme (Work Package 1.6): benthic fauna component.
  • Topodeep involves the comparison of three contrasting seamounts to elucidate gross (kilometre scale) influences of these features in respect of hydrodynamic effects on bottom fauna and carbon cycling.
  • MEDIN: Some work is remaining to be completed from the data project, Medin, involving curation and national aquisition labelling of the plankton collection assembled by the now retired SAMS Fellow John Mauchline. These samples are of historical interest and are destined to form part of the UK National Collections at the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh.
  • Past projects include EU Mast programme ‘Bengal’ (1997, Porcupine Abyssal Plain, N.E. Atlantic), NERC projects ‘Benbo’ (1998, N.E. Atlantic) and Arabian Sea (1994 and 2003, Oman and Pakistan margins).

 

Publications

Key publications
  • GOODAY AJ, LEVIN LA, ARANDA da SILVA A, BETT BJ, COWIE GL, DISSARD D, GAGE JD, HUGHES DJ, JEFFREYS RM, LAMONT PA, LARKIN KA, MURTY SJ, SCHUMACHER S, WHITCRAFT C, WOULDS C (2008) Faunal responses to oxygen gradients on the Pakistan Margin: A comparison of foraminiferans, macrofauna and megafauna. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanograpy
  • HUGHES AD, LEVIN LA, LAMONT PA, PACKER M, GAGE J (2008) Macrofaunal communities and sediment structure across the Pakistan margin oxygen minimum zone, north-east Arabian Sea. Deep Sea Research Part II: Oceanographic Research Papers
  • WOULDS C, COWIE GL, LEVIN LA, ANDERSSON JH, MIDDLEBURGH JJ, VANDEWIELE S, LAMONT PA, LARKIN KE, GOODAY AJ, SCHUMACHER S, WHITCRAFT C, JAFFREYS RM, SHWARTZ M (2007) Oxygen as a control on sea floor biological communities and their roles in sedimentary carbon cycling. Limnology and Oceanography 52: 1698-1709
  • GAGE, J.D., P.A. LAMONT, K. KROEGER, G.L.J. PATERSON & J.L. GONZALEZ VECINO.  2000  Patterns in deep-sea macrobenthos at the continental margin: standing crop, diversity and faunal change on the continental slope off Scotland  Hydrobiologia 440: 261-271
  • LAMONT, P.A. & GAGE J.D. 2000  Morphological responses of macrobenthic polychaetes to low oxygen on the Oman continental slope, NW Arabian Sea,   Deep-Sea Research II 47: 9-24
  • ROBERTS, J.M., HARVEY, S.M., LAMONT, P.A., GAGE, J.D., HUMPHERY, J.D. 2000   Seabed photography, environmental assessment and evidence for deep-water trawling on the continental margin west of the Hebrides.  Hydrobiologia 441: 173-183
  • LAMONT, P.A. & J.D. GAGE. 1998. Dense brittle star population on the Scottish continental slope. In Mooi, R. & Telford, M (eds) Echinoderms: San Francisco, pp. 377-382. Balkema: Rotterdam
  • LAMONT, P.A., GAGE, J.D. & TYLER, P.A. 1995.  Deep-sea macrobenthos at contrasting sites off Portugal: Preliminary results. II. Small-scale dispersion and disturbance ecology. Int. Revue ges. Hydrobiol. 80:, 251-265

 

For more information on my publication, please use the search box on the right.
 
My contact details

Peter Lamont SAMS

Mr Peter Lamont

E: peter.lamont@sams.ac.uk

T: +44 (0)1631 559 234

M: +44 (0) 781 884 7603

F: +44 (0)1631 559 001

Scottish Marine Institute

Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK

 

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