Dr. Kirsty Kemp

Curriculum Vitae:

• Current: Independent Research Fellow - Zoological Society of London
• 2008- 2011: Leverhulme Postdoctoral Researcher, Deep-sea Fauna of Oceanic Islands - Zoological Society of London
• 2006-2007: NERC Postdoctoral Researcher, Polychaete Research Group, Natural History Museum, London
• 2006: PhD Zoology, Temporal Dynamics in the Deep Sea, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
• 2001: MSc Marine and Fisheries Science, University of Aberdeen 
• 2000: Research assistant, Gatty Marine Laboratory, Scotland
• 1999: Research assistant, Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scotland
• 1998: BSc Animal Biology, University of St Andrews, Scotland
 

Research Interests:

I specialise in the study of deep ocean ecology, with a primary research interest in ecosystem diversity and function. This work is mostly undertaken in the context of developing realistic and sustainable management practices in the marine environment. My current work is a study of the disturbance impacts of trawl fishing in the Arctic, focusing on the seabed of west Greenland and using benthic photography and bycatch specimens to map and describe these seafloor communities and understand the disturbance impacts they are subjected to. Details of the project can be found at: http://www.zsl.org/benthic-habitats-of-west-greenland

 

Grants/Funding Awards:

• 2015: PADI ($4500) Project: Scottish seapens
• 2014: EUROFLEETS award - 7 days of shiptime (~£70,000) + (€2500) Project: Benthic habitats in Iceland shrimp trawl grounds
• 2014: Sustainable Fisheries Greenland award (£265,806) Project: Diversity and ecosystem function indices of the macrobenthic community, West Greenland shelf 
• 2012: Sustainable Fisheries Greenland award (£200,005) Project: Diversity and ecosystem function indices of the macrobenthic community, West Greenland shelf 
• 2011: Sustainable Fisheries Greenland award (£20,000) Pilot study: Image-based benthic surveying off West Greenland
• 2011: EUROFLEETS award (€60,412) ROV survey and coral collection. Project: Deep-sea fauna of oceanic islands
• 2011: IS-MOBIL Yggdrasil grant award NOK78,000 = ($10,0626) NFR Visiting Researcher Scholarship, Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway. Project: Response of deep-water sponge fauna to mine tailings
• 2007: Leverhulme Trust 3-year research grant (with further extension of 1 year) Project: ecology of cold-water coral ecosystems of the Azores archipelago
• 2005: National Science Foundation (NSF, USA) scholarship for International Graduate Training Course in Antarctic Biology at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Project: Integrative Biology and Adaptation of Antarctic Marine Organisms
   

Certifications:

• HSE (UK Health and Safety Executive) SCUBA Commercial/Professional Diver
• British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) Dive Leader
• Current ENG 1 (sea-going medical)
• Personal Survival at Sea
• Current First Aid + Wilderness Medical Training

Expeditions:

• EUROFLEETS, July 2015, Research vessel Magnus Heinason, North Iceland benthic survey
• Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Survey 2015, M/T Paamiut (trawler) Arctic, benthic survey
• Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Survey 2013, M/T Paamiut (trawler) Arctic, benthic survey
• Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Survey 2012, M/T Paamiut (trawler) Arctic, benthic survey
• Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Survey 2011, M/T Paamiut (trawler), North Atlantic-Arctic, benthic survey 200-600m
• EUROFLEETS, Sept 2011 Research Vessel L'Atalante, Azores, ROV and geological sampling
• Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Annual Shrimp Stock Assessment Survey, June 2010, M/T Paamiut (trawler), drop-camera benthic survey
• CE10014 Apr-May 2010 (24 days), Research Vessel Celtic Explorer, Rockall Trough-Belgica Mounds-Porcupine Seabight, ROV surveys and coral collection within the EU CoralFISH project Coralfish.net
• 2009 Seamounts Cruise 410, Nov-Dec 2009 (40 days), IUCN, ASCLME, EAF-Nansen, ACEP, ZSL and ECOMAR RV Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, Pelagic sampling and physical oceanography of the seamounts of the South West Indian Ocean Ridge. BBC Earthwatch Seamounts expedition blogspot
• Ongoing: Faial Channel, Azores, Portugal, survey and sampling dives with the manned submersible Lula, owned and operated by the Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation.
• 2006-2008: Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Sweden, ROV collection dives.
• SWEDARP Nov-Jan 2007/8 (42 days), Icebreaker Oden, Southern Ocean/Antarctica, Oceanographic observations and deployment of bone packages. Polartrec Antarctic Expedition
• M2005 May-June 2005 (31 days), RV Pelagia, Bay of Cadiz to Rockall Trough, Recovery of mooring, benthic landers, box and piston cores, seismic survey.
• 02/09/04–09/09/04: D284-T, RRS Discovery, Porcupine Abyssal Plain and Bay of Biscay, Test deployments of long-term lander.
• 27/09/02–24/10/02: D266, RRS Discovery, Porcupine Seabight and Abyssal Plain, Demersal trawling, benthic landers, food-fall deployment.
• 06/03/02–24/03/02: D260, RRS Discovery, Porcupine Seabight and Abyssal Plain, Demersal trawling, benthic landers, food-fall deployment.
• 13/04/01–30/04/01: D252, RRS Discovery, Porcupine Seabight and Abyssal Plain, Demersal trawling, benthic landers, food-fall deployment.
   

Blogs:

Scottish seapens - are the populations healthy? 

https://www.zsl.org/blogs/wild-science/scuba-sampling-of-sea-pens-in-sco...

An eventful expedition to Greenland: 

https://www.zsl.org/blogs/wild-science/cameras-shrimps-and-icebergs-%E2%...

 

Links to previous research pages:

Oceanlab: Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen
Natural History Museum: Natural History Museum, London

 

Selected Publications:

C. Yesson, P. Simon, I. Chemshirova, T. Gorham, C. J. Turner, N. Hammeken Arboe, M. E. Blicher & K. M. Kemp. (2015) Community composition of epibenthic megafauna on the West Greenland Shelf. Polar Biology. doi:10.1007/s00300-015-1768-y

TB. Letessier,  S De Grave , PH. Boersch-Supan, KM. Kemp, AS. Brierley, AD. Rogers (2015) Seamount influences on mid-water shrimps (Decapoda) and gnathophausiids (Lophogastridea) of the South-West Indian Ridge, Deep Sea Research II (in press)

V. Laptikhovsky, P.Boersch-Supan, K.Bolstad, K.Kemp, T. Letessier, A.D.Rogers (2015) Cephalopods of the Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge: A hotspot of biological diversity and absence of endemism, Deep-Sea Res. II (2015) doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2015.07.002i 

DJ Amon, A G Glover, J Copley, D Sykes, F  Ahmed, K  Kemp, P ATyler, C Young (2015)  Burrow forms, growth rates and feeding rates of wood-boring Xylophagaidae bivalves revealed by micro-computed tomography, Frontiers in Marine Science, Publication date: 2015/4/14

Amon DJ, JT Copley, TG Dahlgren, T Horton, KM Kemp, AD Rogers, AG Glover (2015) Observations of fauna attending wood and bone deployments from two seamounts on the Southwest Indian Ridge, Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, Publication date: 2015/7/17

Wright EP., Kemp K, Rogers AD., Yesson C. (2014) Genetic structure of the tall sea pen Funiculina quadrangularis in NW Scottish sea lochs, Marine Ecology 36: 3, 1-9

TB. Letessier, J J. Meeuwig, M Gollockc, L Groves, PJ. Bouchet, L Chapuis, GMS. Vianna, K Kemp , HJ. Koldewey (2013) Assessing pelagic fish populations: The application of demersal video techniques to the mid-water environment, Methods in Oceanography 8 41–55 

Glover AG., Wiklund H., Taboada S., Avila C., Cristobo J., Smith CR., Kemp KM., Jamieson A., Dahlgren TG. (2013) Bone-eating worms from the Antarctic: the contrasting fate of whale and wood remains on the Southern Ocean seafloor. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Published 14 August 2013.DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.1390 

Glover, A.G., Higgs, N.D., Bagley, P.M., Carlsson, R., Davies, A.J., Kemp, K.M., Last, K.S., Norling, K., Rosenberg, R., Wallin, K-A., Källström, B., Dahlgren, T.G. (2010). A live video observatory reveals temporal processes at a shelf-depth whale-fall.Cahiers Biologie Marine 51: 375-381.

Dahlgren, T. G., Kemp, K. M., Jamieson, A. J., Smith, C.R., Glover, A.G. (2009). First record of Antarctic whale-fall species. 4th International Symposium on Chemosynthesis-Based Ecosystems (4th CBE). Okinawa June 28 - July 3 2009

Kemp, K.M., Fraser, K.P.P., Collins, M.A., Priede, I.G. (2008). Seasonal variation in white muscle biochemical composition of deep-sea macrourids in the North-east Atlantic. Marine Biology 155: 37-49.

Kemp, K.M., Jamieson, A.J., Bagley, P.M., Collins, M.A., Priede, I.G. (2008). A new technique for sequential periodic bait-release at a camera platform in the deep sea; trial at 3664m depth in the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone, Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Deep Sea Research II 55: 218-228.

Glover, A.G., Kemp, K.M., Smith, C.R., Dahlgren, T.G. (2008).On the role of bone-eating worms in the degradation of marine vertebrate remains.Proceedings of the Royal Society B275: 1959-1961

Wagner H-J., Kemp, K.M., Mattheus, U., Priede, I.G. (2007). Rhythms on the bottom of the deep sea: Cyclic current flow changes, and melatonin patterns in two species of demersal fish. Deep Sea Research I 54: 1944-1956.

Kemp, K.M., Jamieson, A.J., Bagley, P.M., McGrath, H., Bailey, D.M., Collins, M.A., and Priede, I.G. (2006). Consumption of a large bathyal food fall, a six month study in the north-east Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series 310: 65-76.

Yancey, P.H., Rhea, M.D., Kemp, K.M., and Bailey, D.M. (2004). Trimethylamine oxide, betaine and scyllo-inositol in deep-sea animals: depth trends and effects on enzymes under hydrostatic pressure. Cellular and Molecular Biology 50: 371-376.

Bagley, P.M., Priede, I.G., Jamieson, A.J., Bailey, D.M., Battle, E.G., Henriques, C., and Kemp, K.M. (2004). Lander techniques for deep ocean biological research.Underwater Technology 26: 3-11.

Wakeling, J.M., Cole, N.J., Kemp, K.M. & Johnston, I.A. (2000). The biomechanics and evolutionary significance of thermal acclimation in the common carp Cyprinus carpio. American Journal of Physiology, Regulatory, Integrative logy 279: R657 - R665.

Wakeling, J.M., Kemp, K.M. & Johnston, I.A. (1999). The biomechanics of fast-starts during ontogeny in the common carp Cyrinus carpio. Journal of Experimental Biology202: 3057-3067.

Navas, C.A., James, R.S., Wakeling, J.M., Kemp, K.M. & Johnston, I.A. (1999). An integrative study of the temperature dependence of whole animal and muscle performance during jumping and swimming in the frog Rana temporaria. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 169(8): 588-596.