Nicole Atherley

Nicole Herbert, PhD, BSc

Postdoctoral Fellow
Nicole Herbert

Location: Postgrad Office 1
Room #03-107
natherley@rossvet.edu.kn
Phone: 401-1149

A Caribbean native from the island of Barbados, Nicole completed her Bachelor of Science at the University of West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. She was awarded her BSc. in Biology and Microbiology. She worked as a microbiology technician at the same institution and left in 2017 to pursue her studies at RUSVM. Her postgraduate studies were jointly funded by the Caribaea Initiative, an organization that funds Caribbean students to conduct conservation research in the Caribbean. Nicole’s PhD study on the biology, ecology and diseases of the Caribbean spiny lobster was completed in 2021. During that research project, she discovered an undescribed nemertean worm which parasitizes lobster eggs. One aim of her postdoc is to identify and describe this species, which has not been reported before in the Caribbean spiny lobster.

Education

PhD in Biology, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine

BSc in Biology and Microbiology (Double major), University of West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados

CERTIFICATION

Member of the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean (AMLC)

Member of the Caribaea Initiative

Member of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology (SIP)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Completing the PhD has generated interest in diseases and parasites of marine invertebrates, including but not restricted to crustaceans. The issue of nemertean infestation of commercially important crustaceans is of special note since these egg-predators can negatively impact the fishery of the host species. Conservation and sustainable fisheries are important to the livelihood of fishermen and the economy of the country by extension.

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

Atherley, N.A.M., Dennis, M.M., Behringer, D.C., Freeman, M.A. 2021. Size at sexual maturity and seasonal reproductive activity of the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 671: 129-145. [doi: 10.3354/meps13762]

Atherley, N.A.M., Dennis, M.M, Freeman, M.A. 2020. Two species of Carcinonemertes Coe, 1902 (Nemertea: Carcinonemertidae) infesting the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus (Latreille, 1804) (Decapoda: Achelata: Palinuridae), in Saint Kitts, West Indies. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 40 (6): 933–942 [doi: 10.1093/jcbiol/ruaa060]

Atherley, N.A.M., Freeman, M.A., Dennis, M.M. 2020. Post-mortem examination of the Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus, Latreille 1804) and common pathology in a fishery of the Lesser Antilles. Journal of Invertebrate Biology, 175: 107453. [doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2020.107453]

Professor showing veterinarian students how to use microscopes
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