Biography 

Nick is a consulting aquatic ecologist with 15 years of professional experience in this field. After completing a PhD in Hydrology at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg) in 2003, he went on to a post-doctorate at the Institute for Water Research (Rhodes University, Grahamstown) which ran until April 2006. He undertook pioneering research on linking water temperature regimes to fish distribution patterns on the Sabie River to complete my PhD. He continued to undertake research on water temperatures and flow patterns as drivers of habitat conditions to explain blackfly outbreaks in the Great Fish River (Eastern Cape) during the post-doctorate. He has considerable experience in fish and aquatic macroinvertebrate sampling, and collection and analysis of water temperature data, further facilitated through a suite of metrics he developed to assess such time series in terms of changes in magnitudes, frequency, duration and timing of thermal stress events. These skills are complemented by extensive experience in water temperature modelling, and development of ecological response models based on flow and water temperature inputs, both of which have been used in scenario analyses. Nick is also a published regional expert on freshwater conservation planning, and successfully developed the first provincial freshwater conservation plan for KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This work led into additional research on understanding turnover patterns of fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates, and how this relates to freshwater conservation targets.