Cawthron scientist Dr Kirsty Smith with a sample of the sea squirts that she received a $300,000 grant to research over the next three years. Photo: Andrew Board.

Scientist earns research grant

0
1646

A Cawthron scientist has secured a $300,000 research grant, one of only a handful of successful grants to go to a researcher from outside of the country’s six main universities.

Dr Kirsty Smith received her grant from the Marsden Fund earlier this month, which is administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand on behalf of the government.

Kirsty says she is delighted “and shocked” with the grant, which will see her study the effects of global warming on sea squirts. The research will see if species can adapt to climate change fast enough to avoid extinction.

Kirsty and her colleague, Dr Francisco Prosdocimi from Brazil, will grow sea squirts in the laboratory, and then alter their environment by varying the temperature and salinity of the water over six-week periods. They will test whether this leads to changes that increase the sea squirts’ ability to adapt to their changing environment, and whether any modifications are passed on to future generations.

Kirsty says the sea squirts are a pest in our waters, but are native in Japan. “It is currently unknown if species can adapt rapidly enough to cope with the predicted changes associated with ocean acidification and global warming,” she says.

Cawthron Institute chief executive, Professor Charles Eason, says the award is excellent recognition for one of the independent research institute’s many promising young scientists. “This project is a great example of how Cawthron scientists apply excellent science to topical challenges or opportunities that have real relevance for New Zealand.”

LEAVE A REPLY