SOEST Young Investigator
Assistant Researcher

Education

2004 - Ph.D. - Southampton Oceanography Centre
2000 - BSc (hons) - University of Wales, Aberystwyth

2007 – present  Assistant Researcher, University of Hawaii at Manoa – HI, USA
2006 – 2007      InterRidge Coordinator, Research Associate, WHOI – MA, USA
2005 – 2006      US Geological Survey – WHOI Institutes Postdoctoral Fellowship –MA, USA
2006 – 2006      Visiting Researcher, Paleo-DNA Laboratory – Thunder Bay, Canada
2004 – 2004      Collaborating Researcher, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Oban, Scotland
2003 – 2004      Guest Investigator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – MA, USA
2002 – 2002      Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Exchange Program – MA, USA  
2000 – 2003      European Union PhD Fellowship – Southampton Oceanography Centre, UK

Publications, and In Press

• Scanlon, KM; Waller, RG; Sirotek, A; Knisel, JM & Alesandrini, SM (In Revision) USGS Cold-Water Coral Geographic Database – Gulf of Mexico and Western North Atlantic, Version 1.0. USGS Open File Report
• Waller, RG; Tyler, PA & Smith, C.  (In Press) Fecundity and embryo development of three Antarctic deep-water scleractinians: Flabellum thouarsii, F. curvatum and F. impensum. Deep-Sea Research II
• Waller, RG; Watling, L; Auster, P & Shank, TM.  (2007) Fishing Impacts on the Corner Rise Seamounts. Journal of the Marine Biological Association, UK, 87: 1075-1076
• Waller, RG & Baco-Taylor, A (2007) Reproductive morphology of three Hawaiian deep-water precious corals. Bulletin of Marine Science, 81(3): 533-542
• Robinson, LF; Adkins, JF; Scheirer; DS, Fernandez, DF; Gagnon, A & Waller RG (2007)  Deep-sea scleractinian coral age and depth distributions in the NW Atlantic for the last 225 thousand years. Bulletin of Marine Science, 81(3): 371-391
• Waller, RG; Adkins, J; Robinson, L & Shank, TM.  (2007) Ancient DNA techniques and their utility in deep-water coral research. Bulletin of Marine Science, 81(3): 351-359
• Flint, H; Waller, RG & Tyler, PA. (2007)  Reproduction in Fungiacyathus marenzelleri from the northeast Pacific Ocean. Marine Biology, 151(3), 843-849
• Waller, RG; Tyler, PA & Gage, JD. (2005) Sexual reproduction of three deep water Caryophyllia (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) species from the NE Atlantic Ocean. Coral Reefs, 24(4), 594-602
• Waller, RG & Tyler PA. (2005) The reproductive biology of two deep-sea, reef-building scleractinians from the NE Atlantic Ocean. Coral Reefs, 24(3), 514-522
• Waller, RG. (2005) Deep Water Scleractinians: Current knowledge of reproductive processes. In: Freiwald A & Roberts JM (eds) Cold-water Corals and Ecosystems. Springer, Heidelberg, 691-700
• Fornari D; Billings, A; Catanach, R; Liberatore, S; Swartz, M; Hammar, T; Meirer, G; Gould, M; Fucile, P; Doherty, K; Duester, A; Bradley, A; Waller, RG; Buckman, K; Ferreira M. (2003) A new deep-sea towed digital camera and multi-rock coring system. EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 84(8), 69-76
• Waller, RG; Tyler, PA & Gage JD. (2002) The reproductive ecology of the deep-sea solitary coral Fungiacyathus marenzelleri (Scleractinia) in the NE Atlantic Ocean. Coral Reefs, 21(4), 325-331

Non-Peer Reviewed Publications

• Corner Rise Seamounts: The Impact of Deep-sea Fisheries. Watling, L., R. Waller, & P.J. Auster, ICES Insight No. 44: 10-14, 2007
• Coral catastrophe on the Corner Rise Seamounts. Oceanus, Dec 07
• What other tales can coral skeletons tell?Oceanus, Nov 06
• Creature Feature – Deep-Water Corals. CenSeam newsletter No. 5, Nov 2006
• Lullaby for Larvae: A WHOI biologist becomes midwife for Antarctic Deep-Sea Corals. Oceanus, Aug 2006

Recent Abstracts

• Waller, RG; Watling, L; Auster, PJ & Shank, TS. (2006) Anthropogenic Impacts on the Corner Rise Seamounts, NW Atlantic. AGU, San Francisco, USA
• Scanlon, K; Waller, RG; Knisel, J. (2006) Deep-Water Scleractinian Coral Habitats in the Madison Swanson Fishery Reserve, Northeastern Gulf of Mexico, USA. MarEco Workshop
• Waller, RG; Scheltema, R; Tyler, PA & Smith C. (2006) Reproduction and Larval Ecology of Antarctic Deep-Water Corals. 11th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium, Southampton, UK
• Waller, RG; Watling, L; Auster, PJ & Shank, TS. (2006) Anthropogenic Impacts on the Corner Rise Seamounts, NW Atlantic. 11th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium, Southampton, UK
• Watling, L; Waller, R; Auster, PJ; France SC. (2006) Deep-Dwelling Corals and Deep-Sea Fisheries on Seamounts in the North Atlantic. SBN Workshop, La Jolla, USA
• Waller, RG; Shank, TM; Adkins, J & Robinson, L. (2005) Fossil Scleractinians from the New England Seamounts: Ancient DNA Techniques Give New Insights Into Past Climate Change – Preliminary Data, 3rd Deep Sea Coral Symposium, Miami, USA
• Scanlon, K; Knisel, J & Waller, RG. (2005) Prototype Deep-Water Coral Geodatabase: Gulf of Mexico and Beyond, 3rd Deep Sea Coral Symposium, Miami, USA
• Waller, RG & Baco-Taylor, A. (2005) Some Findings on the Reproduction of Hawaiian Precious Corals, 3rd Deep Sea Coral Symposium, Miami, USA

Invited Talks

• Deep Water Corals; Past, Present and Future. Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, February 2007
• Deep Water Corals; Past, Present and Future. School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Hawaii, February 2007
• Ancient DNA Techniques in Deep-Water Corals. Ocean Climate Change Institute, Woods Hole, MA, October 2006
• Cold-Water Scleractinians: Reproductive Processes at Depth. Darling Marine Center, Maine, November 2005
• The Reproductive Ecology of Two Deep-Sea Reef Building Corals from the NE Atlantic Ocean.  2nd International Deep-Sea Coral Symposium, Erlangen Germany, September 2003

Sea Experience

Over 15 research expeditions on European and American vessels including one Co-PI. Expeditions took place to the NE, NW and Mid-Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Galapagos Islands and the Southern Ocean and involve the use of submersibles, ROV’s, AUV’s and traditional oceanographic equipment such as OTSB, Agassiz and Blake trawls, Box cores and VanVean Grabs.  This does not include numerous undergraduate training cruises onboard the National Oceanographic Centre’s small boats.