Jonathan Banks
Senior Scientist – Microbial Source Tracking and Freshwater Ecology
Qualifications
- PhD (Evolutionary Biology). Lincoln University, 2004
- MAppSc (First Class Honours, Behavioural Ecology). Lincoln University, 1998
- BPharm. University of Otago, 1988
Role at Cawthron
Jonathan is a senior scientist whose area of expertise and research interests include:
- tracing the source of faecal contamination of marine and freshwaters by genetically identifying host-specific bacteria
- characterising aquatic invertebrate communities
- using genetics to measure water quality.
Technical skills, experience and interests
- Associate editor of the New Zealand Journal of Zoology
- The louse Forficuloecus banksi that parasitises the mulga parrot is named after him
- Systematics and taxonomy of birds and invertebrates
- Evolutionary relationships between hosts and their parasites
- Detection of the presence of fish in lakes and streams from DNA shed into the water.
Professional affiliations
- Ornithological Society of New Zealand
- Editorial Board Member Systematic Biology
Publication links
- Pochon X, Smith KF, Banks JC, Geoff Miles , Mae H and Symonds JE 2018. Understanding bacterial communities for informed biosecurity and improved larval survival in pacific oysters . Cawthron Report No. 3129 Prepared for Cawthron Institute. 27 pages plus appendices.
- Lear G, Dickie I, Banks JC, Boyer S, Buckley HL, Buckley TR, Cruickshank R, Dopheide A, Handley KM, Hermans S, Kamke J, Lee CK, Macdiarmid R, Morales SE, Orlovich DA, Smissen R, Wood J and Holdaway R 2018. Methods for the extraction, storage, amplification and sequencing of DNA from environmental samples. New Zealand Journal of Ecology. Volume 42, Issue 1.
- Burns CW, Duggan IC, Banks JC and Hogg ID 2017. A new, subalpine species of Daphnia (Cladocera, Anomopoda) in the D. carinata species complex, in the South Island, New Zealand. Hydrobiologia. Volume 798, Issue 1. Pages 151-169.
- Dowle E, Pochon X, Banks JC, Shearer KA and Wood SA 2016. Targeted gene enrichment and high throughput sequencing for environmental biomonitoring: a case study using freshwater macroinvertebrates. Molecular Ecology Resources. Volume 16, Issue 5. Pages 1240-1254.
- Pochon X, Zaiko A, Hopkins GA, Banks JC and Wood SA 2015. Early detection of eukaryotic communities from marine biofilm using high-throughput sequencing: an assessment of different sampling devices. Biofouling. Volume 31, Issue 3. Pages 241-251.
- Clark JA, Banks JC and Waas JR 2013. Economical genotyping of little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor) clades from feather-based DNA. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 37:146-150.
- Wood SA, Smith KF, Banks JC, Tremblay LA, Rhodes L, Mountfort D, Cary CS and Pochon X 2013. Molecular genetic tools for environmental monitoring of New Zealand's aquatic habitats - past, present and the future. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 47(1): 90-119.
- Duggan IC, Robinson KV, Burns CW, Banks JC and Hogg ID 2012. Identifying invertebrate invasions using morphological and molecular analyses: North American Daphnia 'pulex' in New Zealand fresh waters. Aquatic Invasions 7:585-590.
- Ninnes CE, Waas JR, Ling N, Nakagawa S, Banks JC, Bell DG, Bright A, Carey PW, Chandler J, Hudson QJ, Ingram JR, Lyall K, Morgan DKJ, Stevens MI, Wallace J and Möstl E 2011. Environmental influences on Adelie penguin breeding schedules, endocrinology and chick survival. General and Comparative Endocrinology 173:139-147.
- Demetras NJ, Hogg ID, Banks JC and Adams BJ 2010. Latitudinal distribution and mitochondrial DNA (COI) variability of Stereotydeus spp. (Acari: Prostigmata) in Victoria Land and the central Trans-Antarctic Mountains. Antarctic Science 22:749-756.
- Banks JC, Ross M and Smith TE 2010. Report of a mummified leopard seal Hydrurga leptonyx carcass in the Southern Dry Valleys, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Antarctic Science 22:43-44.
- Banks JC, Hicks BJ, Lobb R and Blair J 2010. Genetic identification of fish. CBER report 109:17.
- Ninnes CE, Waas JR, Ling N, Nakagawa S, Banks JC, Bell DG, Bright A, Carey PW, Chandler J, Hudson QJ, Ingram JR, Lyall K, Morgan D, Stevens MI, Wallace J and Möstl E 2010. Comparing plasma and faecal measures of steroid hormones in Adelie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 180:83-94.
- Hogg ID, Smith BJ, Banks JC, Dewaard JR and Hebert PDN 2009. Testing use of mitochondrial COI sequences for the identification and phylogenetic analysis of New Zealand caddisflies (Trichoptera). New Zealand Journal of Freshwater and Marine Research 43:1137-1146.
- Knox MA, Hicks BJ, Banks JC and Hogg ID 2009. Fish biosurveillance by genetic methods: a feasibility study. CBER Contract Report 90:26.
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+64 3 548 2319 ext 259
jonathan.banks@cawthron.org.nz