Congratulations to Environmental Scientist Jon Abell and Statistician Paul van Dam-Bates on a recent publication in the journal Environmental Science and Technology titled “Quantifying the Extent of Anthropogenic Eutrophication of Lakes at a National Scale in New Zealand.” The study was based on a project completed by Ecofish in 2018 that quantified the extent of water quality degradation across lake types at a national scale, thereby informing lake ecosystem restoration targets and objectives. Furthermore, the study developed a modelling framework that can be applied to lakes elsewhere.
Prior to joining Ecofish in 2014, Jon completed his Ph.D. and postdoctoral research in limnology at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. At Ecofish, Jon’s work focuses on the design and implementation of aquatic monitoring and assessment projects. This includes working with First Nations, government agencies, watershed groups, and project proponents to support evidence-based decision-making in relation to issues such as freshwater habitat restoration, detecting environmental changes, and managing the effects of water management operations.
After completing his M.Sc. in Statistics at the University of Victoria (UVIC), Paul accepted a job with the Department of Conservation in New Zealand. There he advised on monitoring programmes, taught statistical workshops and gave statistical analysis advice. After returning to Canada, Paul joined Ecofish as an applied statistician who focusses on ecological problems related to monitoring programme design and the analysis of large and complex spatial datasets. Recently, Paul started a remote Ph.D. at the Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling at the University of St Andrews while continuing to support analytical work at Ecofish.
Congratulations again to Ecofishers Jon and Paul, as well as to co-authors Deniz Özkundakci, David Hamilton, and Richard McDowell!
Access the full publication here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b03120