Susan Chambers
Research interests/expertise: Polychaete taxonomy with a special interest in temperate Cirratulidae, Polynoidae and tropical Sabellaridae.
Susan was employed as an assistant in the Entomology Department of the Natural History Museum, London, for five years before leaving to study Zoology/Botany at the Royal Holloway College, University of London. As a research assistant at the University of Stirling, Psychology Department, she spent six months in the riverine forests of east Senegal looking at primate behaviour. On her return to the UK, she joined the National Museums Scotland in 1979 until her retirement in 2016.
Susan's polychaete research developed in many families, Aphroditidae, Polynoidae, Sabellaride and eventually settled on Cirratulids around the British Isles, although occasionally branching out into other marine groups such as Sponges, or Lagoon habitats. Molecular techniques have been applied in some groups but very little is still known.
She is currently preparing a revision of the Chaetozone (Cirratulidae) of the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Selected publications
Hastie, L. C., Rasmussen, J., Angel, M.V., Boxshall, G.A., Chambers, S.J., Conway, D.V.P., Fielding, S., Ingvarsdottir, A., John, A.W.G., Hay, S.J., Milligan, S.P., Mulford, A.L., Pierce, G.J., Shaw, M. and Wootton, M. 2015. Zooplankton Identification Manual for North European Seas (ZIMNES). In: Watson, M.F., Lyal, C.H.C. and Pendry, C A. (eds.) Systematic Association Special Volume Series: Descriptive Taxonomy: The Foundation of Biodiversity Research. Cambridge University Press. pp 107-110.
Howson, C.M., Chambers, S.J., Pye, S.E. & Ware, F.W. 2014. Uist Lagoons Survey. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 787.
Chevalier, M., Pye, S., Porter, J., & Chambers, S. 2014. Hydrobiidae on North Uist. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 559.
Zaâbi S., Gillet, P., Chambers S., Afli, A. & Boumaiza, M. 2012. Inventory and new records of Polychaete species from the Cap Bon peninsula, North east coast of Tunisia, western Mediterranean Sea. Mediterranean Marine Science 13 (1): 36-48.
S. J. Chambers and A. L. Mulford. 2012. What is the distribution of the benthic Chaetognath Spadella cephaloptera (Busch, 1851) in British Waters? Porcupine Marine Natural History Society Newsletter31:16-20.
Chambers, S.C., Lanera, P., Mikac, B. 2011. Chaetozone carpenteri McIntosh, 1911 from the Mediterranean Sea and records of other bi-tentaculate Cirratulids. Italian Journal of Zoology78: 41-48.
Barrios, L. M., S.J. Chambers, N. Ismail, H. M. Guzman, J. M. Mair. Distribution of Idanthyrus cretus (Polychaeta: Sabellariidae) in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and application of PCR-RAPD for population analysis. In: Maciolek, N.J. and J.A. Blake (eds). 2009. Proceedings of the Ninth International Polychaete Conference, August 2007,Portland, Maine, USA. Zoosymposia 2:1–600. Magnolia Press, Auckland, New Zealand.
Muir, A. I. & Chambers, S. J. 2008. Malmgrenia McIntosh, 1874 (Annelida, Polychaeta, Polynoidae) proposed conservation of usage by designation of Malmgreniaandreapolis McIntosh, 1874 as the type species. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature65 (1):12-16.
Chambers, S. J. & E. L. Dominguez-Tejo, J. M. Mair, L. A. Mitchell, A. Woodham. 2007. The distribution of three eyeless Chaetozone species (Cirratulidae: Polychaeta) in the North East Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom87: 1111-1114.