Nerida Wilson

{{short description|Australian zoologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Nerida Wilson | native_name_lang = | image = Nerida Wilson in 2018-02 -2 (cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption =Nerida Wilson in 2016 | birth_name = | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | fields =Invertebrate marine biology | workplaces = Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation | patrons = | alma_mater = BSc University of Melbourne <br/> PhD University of Queensland | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Antarctic Service Medal | signature =  | signature_alt = | website = }} {{scholia}} '''Nerida Gaye Wilson''' is an invertebrate marine molecular biologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation who has interests in diversity, systematics, phylogeny, phylogeography and behavior. Wilson has been instrumental in demonstrating the level of marine cryptic species complexes in Antarctic waters, testing the circumpolar distribution paradigm with molecular data, and using interdisciplinary approaches to show how Antarctic diversity may have been generated. Her work with NOAA on Antarctic Marine Living Resources has been used to regulate exploratory benthic fisheries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://swfsc.noaa.gov/aerd/|title=Antarctic Ecosystem Research: the US AMLR Program - SWFSC|website=swfsc.noaa.gov|access-date=2016-05-31}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Wilson grew up on the outskirts of Melbourne in Australia, attending Bayswater Primary School and Bayswater Secondary College. She completed a B.Sc. undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne in the Faculty of Science (1994-1998) followed by a one-year B.Sc. Honours research degree at University of Queensland (1999) in Zoology. She remained at University of Queensland but moved departments to the Centre for Marine Studies for her PhD (awarded 2004).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biodiversitymarine.com/nerida-wilson.html|title=Nerida Wilson|website=Marine Biodiversity and Evolution|access-date=2016-06-02}}</ref>

== Career and impact == Wilson began her career using histology to recover phylogenetically conserved characters, but then utilized molecular data to help understand the evolutionary history of organisms. Wilson spent almost a year as a visiting research fellow at University of Adelaide and South Australian Museum before taking a postdoctoral position in the USA at Auburn University (Alabama) from 2005-2006. She then moved to Scripps Institution of Oceanography (San Diego California), first as a postdoc (2007-2009), and then as a project Scientist (2009-2010). Wilson returned to Australia in 2010 to take up a research scientist position in the Malacology Section at the Australian Museum (Sydney) and was promoted to senior research scientist in 2012. She then moved to the Western Australian Museum in 2014 where she worked in the Aquatic Zoology Department. In 2017 she became the Manager of the Molecular Systematics Unit. In 2023 she joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. She has adjunct status at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and is a Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia.

Wilson has participated in numerous deep sea and Antarctic expeditions, using traditional methods and Remotely Operated Vehicles to obtain samples. She dived in the submersible HOV Alvin in 2005, diving on unexplored vents on the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge (>2500m).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.whoi.edu/main/hov-alvin|title=Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin|last=|first=|date=|website=www.whoi.edu|publisher=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|access-date=10 May 2018}}</ref> In 2010, she led the cruise that recovered large numbers of Monoplacophora for molecular and phylogenomic analysis. To date, she has deployed to Antarctica seven times, acting as chief scientist for two of those cruises.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marine-geo.org/tools/entry/NBP1105|title=GeoScience data from NBP1105|access-date=2016-07-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marine-geo.org/tools/entry/NBP1303|title=GeoScience data from NBP1305|access-date=2016-07-13}}</ref> She participated on the Denman Marine Voyage to East Antarctica in 2025 on the [https://www.antarctica.gov.au/antarctic-operations/travel-and-logistics/ships/nuyina/ RSV Nuyina]. She is a co-founder and project lead of [https://seadragonsearch.org/ SeadragonSearch], a citizen science project that monitors wild seadragons. Data from that project was instrumental in listing the Weedy seadragon as [https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/17177/263199517 Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List]. She also helped discover and describe the Ruby seadragon in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-02-18 |title=Ruby Seadragon Makes its Debut as a New Species |url=https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/12810/20150218/ruby-seadragon-makes-debut-new-species.htm |access-date=2016-06-02 |website=Nature World News}}</ref>

Wilson has been an editor for ''Invertebrate Systematics'' journal (2012–2023) and the ''Journal of Molluscan Studies'' (2012–2020).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/120/aid/426.htm|title=CSIRO PUBLISHING - Invertebrate Systematics|website=www.publish.csiro.au|access-date=2016-06-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/mollus/editorial_board.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812061643/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/mollus/editorial_board.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-08-12|title=Editorial Board|website=www.oxfordjournals.org|publisher=Journal of Molluscan Studies|access-date=2016-06-02}}</ref> She was the President of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists (2015-2017).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sasb.org.au/banksia/Banksia_09_Aug_2013.pdf|title=Banksia|last=|first=|date=August 2013|website=www.sasb.org.au/|publisher=Society of Australian Systematic Biologists|access-date=10 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125113157/https://www.sasb.org.au/banksia/Banksia_09_Aug_2013.pdf|archive-date=25 January 2014}}</ref> She co-authored the proposal for the 2012-2020 SCAR Biology Scientific Research Programme "State of the Antarctic Ecosystem (AntECO)" to promote international interdisciplinary research relevant to Antarctic ecosystems.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scar.org/scar_media/documents/science/anteco/AntEco_Proposal_Apr12_upd.pdf|title=State of the Antarctic Ecosystem|last=|first=|date=|website=scar.org|publisher=|access-date=10 May 2018}}</ref>

Wilson is committed to a fair, equitable scientific community and has run mentoring workshops (2013, 2015) in conjunction with SASB conferences. She co-founded the Women and Minorities in Science group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (in 2009), and the Equal Opportunity Science- Australia Facebook group (in 2013).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/EOS.Australia/|title=Equal Opportunity Science-Australia|website=Facebook |access-date=2016-07-13}}</ref> She has also worked with Scripps Educational Alliances, the San Diego Project and the CREATE STEM success initiative using Antarctic data sets to create lesson plans to address the Next Generation Science Standards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ucsdcreate.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/doing-a-deep-dive-biology-teachers-explore-antarctic-invertebrates-at-sio/|title=Doing a Deep Dive: Biology Teachers Explore Antarctic Invertebrates at SIO|last=|date=2013-12-20|website=UCSD|access-date=2016-05-31}}</ref>

== Awards and honors == In 2014, Wilson was awarded an Antarctic Service Medal from the United States Antarctic Program. She was also awarded a Women in Technology WA Tech [+] award for her work in technology, research and advocacy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.witwa.org.au/gallery/2020-witwa-tech-20-winners/|title=Women in Technology WA Tech [+] awards|last=|first=|date=|publisher=Women in Technology WA|access-date=24 Oct 2022}}</ref> She led an expedition to the Ningaloo Canyons in 2020, which won the Science Engagement Initiative of the Year at the Premier's Science Awards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-jobs-tourism-science-and-innovation/premiers-science-award-winners|title=Science Engagement Initiative of the Year at the Premier's Science Awards|last=|first=|date=|website=www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-jobs-tourism-science-and-innovation/premiers-science-award-winners|publisher=Western Australian Government|access-date=24 Oct 2022}}</ref> She has four species named after her; a hydrothermal vent polychaete ''Mesonerilla neridae,''<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Worsaae|first1=Katrine|last2=Rouse|first2=Greg W|date=2009-01-01|title=''Mesonerilla neridae'', n. sp. (Nerillidae): First meiofaunal annelid from deep-sea hydrothermal vents|url=http://www.forskningsdatabasen.dk/en/catalog/2282391494|journal=Zoosymposia|doi=10.11646/zoosymposia.2.1.20|issn=1178-9913|doi-access=free}}</ref> a meiofaunal acochlidian slug ''Pontohedyle neridae'',<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jörger|first1=Katharina M.|last2=Schrödl|first2=Michael|date=2013-01-01|title=How to describe a cryptic species? Practical challenges of molecular taxonomy|journal=Frontiers in Zoology|volume=10|issue=1|pages=59|doi=10.1186/1742-9994-10-59|issn=1742-9994|pmc=4015967|pmid=24073641 |doi-access=free }}</ref> a myzostomid polychaete ''Endomyzostoma neridae''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=819711|title=''Endomyzostoma neridae''|website=World Register of Marine Species|access-date=2016-05-31}}</ref> and a shelled sacoglossan ''Oxynoe neridae''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1293553|title=''Oxynoe neridae''|website=World Register of Marine Species|access-date=2022-10-24}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist|35em}}

== External links == *{{google scholar id|kNxbyJcAAAAJ}} *{{ResearchGate|Nerida_Wilson}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Nerida}} Category:Australian molecular biologists Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Australian Antarctic scientists Category:Australian women scientists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Women Antarctic scientists Category:American women molecular biologists Category:American molecular biologists Category:American women marine biologists Category:American marine biologists Category:Australian marine biologists