Page 8 - Eureka! Spring 2010

Hot topic

A passion for the

aquatic life Photo: Dr Nigel Waltho

By Susan Hickman and personal with crabs, corals, coral Students analyze underwater data during a field
diseases, coral reef fish, sea urchins or trip course given by Nigel Waltho, Department of
t was surely inevitable that biology brittle stars, depending on the project Biology.
Iprofessor Nigel Waltho should end proposals they submit to Waltho. data analysis without the software
up running field trips to the coral reefs “For the first few days, students are capabilities we have today. Now I’m
of the Caribbean Sea. On the one hand concentrating on learning the species involved in coral bleaching events due
he has a passion for scuba diving, and how to collect the data. It’s a huge to global warming.”
having grown up swimming competi- learning curve,” Waltho explains. “Once As he tallies the data collected by
tively and earning his diving instruc- they settle down, they focus on collect- his students during their field trips,
tor license during his master’s studies. ing the data for their particular project.” Waltho is comparing information
On the other hand, he has an innate The students dive or snorkel morn- about coral, algae and fish in Cuba and
understanding of statistical ecology. ings and afternoons, and participate in the Bahamas. In Cuba, for example,
Waltho believes the combination of statistical workshops and presentations hurricanes have swept right over his
his experience as a scientific diver and during the evenings. Once they return to research site, leaving behind valuable
his capabilities as a scuba instruc- Canada, they have a month to analyze data for his examination of the effects
tor gave him the competitive edge he their data and write a final paper. of storms and bleaching on the reefs.
needed for the position. “I’m a natural At the end of December, Waltho While Waltho says he still needs
to supervise students in a scuba div- takes another group of students to several years’ worth of data before he
ing environment,” Waltho notes. “My the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the can report substantial findings, he is
passion is teaching and I enjoy taking Bahamas to study sustainable aqua- already making some hypotheses.
students on these field trips.” culture on the shoreline, the man- “In Cuba, the algae have been set back
Waltho, who teaches ecology and grove habitats and the coral reefs. by the hurricanes. In the Bahamas, where
conservation biology, takes up to “The prerequisites for my field it is more stable and the system is more
three dozen biology students from courses are tough,” notes Waltho, “be- mature, the coral reefs are more algae
various Ontario universities, includ- cause of the research angle I require. covered. We are also seeing an invasion
ing Carleton, to the Bahamas and Students must have some statisti- of the venomous lionfish, which are im-
Cuba every year. The co-operative pro- cal background and be able to think pacting the fish assemblages. The lionfish
gram involves biology faculty from ecologically.” is endemic to the western Pacific, but we
13 universities across the province. Waltho began his career as a think they escaped from the aquarium
Students have a plethora of choices, statistical ecologist after completing tanks at the Atlantis Resort, and now
from the study of wetland and water- his doctorate in marine biology at they are expanding rapidly across the
bird ecology at Long Point, Ontario to McMaster University in 1998. While Bahamas into Jamaica and Cuba.
the exploration of human effects on he was studying freshwater fish for “We expect to see consequences of
aquatic environments in China. his thesis, he worked as an assistant these lionfish in the Caribbean,” Waltho
For two weeks every May, Waltho’s teacher in Jamaica. During his last says. “Having long-term data over 20 to
tropical research program lands stu- year of studies, he switched his focus 30 years will provide a better grasp of
dents of zoology, ecology, botany, lim- to his Jamaican work on coral reefs. how these ecosystems respond to new
nology or marine biology at the Univer- “My original PhD work is still species of fish, bleaching, hurricanes
sity of Havana Field Station on Cuba’s sitting in the computer,” Waltho and global warming, and perhaps lead
south coast, where they get up close laughs. “It was too complex to do the to better management.”

8 Spring 2010