Yellow lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 14

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Biographical Summary of the Report Writer

Derek Davis has had a life long interest in natural history and landscape and has a particular interest in molluscan diversity and zoogeography. He was educated in London, England and received his BSc. in Geology, Zoology and Botany from the University of London in 1960. In the following five years he carried out marine surveys of electricity generating sites in the United Kingdom, continued his interest in natural history, participated in 10 km² mapping census of non-marine Mollusca and organized nature conservation activities for youth in Britain and Northwest Europe. He immigrated to Canada in 1965 and received a PhD. in biology from Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS. in 1972 for studies on the ecology of the Rough Periwinkle. He joined the Nova Scotia Museum in 1968 as Chief Curator of Science. His work included administration, management, research and interpretive projects. Through the provincial government Committee on Land Use Policy he participated in preparation of policy and legislation related to the provincial park system, the Special Places Protection Act and wildlife habitat protection. A product of this work was the major two-volume resource document, The Natural History of Nova Scotia, first published in 1984 and revised in 1996. He managed the non-arthropod invertebrate collections of the museum and made significant additions of molluscs and other invertebrates from marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats, mostly from Nova Scotia. He has published many papers and reports. He retired from the Nova Scotia Museum in 1994 but remains a Research Associate with them. Derek Davis is a member of the Ecology Action Centre, the American Malacological Society, the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, the Malacological Society of London and other scientific societies.

Kellie White received her BSc. in Ecology & Evolution in 1994 and her Masters in Zoology in 1997 from the University of Western Ontario where her thesis research focused on freshwater mussel ecology. She then went on to Boston University’s Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology where she coordinated their Tropical Ecology Program from 1998 until 2000. In 2001 she began working with the Atlantic Coastal Action Program – Cape Breton as a research Ecologist. In this capacity, she has focused on wildlife conservation, education and, habitat restoration. This work has included research on the Lampsilis cariosa in the Sydney River, the assessment and restoration of over 100 km of freshwater fish habitat and the development of volunteer monitoring programs for freshwater mussels, estuaries and migratory waterfowl in Cape Breton.

Donald McAlpine received his PhD from the University of New Brunswick and is currently Curator of Zoology in the Natural Sciences Department of the New Brunswick Museum (NBM). He also holds adjunct appointments at the University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie University. Prior to joining the NBM in 1981 he worked for various scientific and conservation organizations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Iceland, and Panama.