Michelle Kelly (marine scientist) explained

Michelle Kelly
Birth Place:Otago, New Zealand
Other Names:Michelle Kelly-Borges
Fields:Sponges
Workplaces:National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Alma Mater:University of Auckland
Thesis1 Title:Systematics and ecology of the sponges of Motupore Island, Papua New Guinea
Thesis1 Url:http://hdl.handle.net/2292/5966
Thesis1 Year:1986
Thesis2 Title:The Order Hadromerida (Porifera: Demospongiae), taxonomy and relationships of the major families
Thesis2 Url:http://hdl.handle.net/2292/1994
Thesis2 Year:1991
Doctoral Advisors:Patricia Bergquist
Peter Bergquist

Michelle Kelly (born 1961), also known as Michelle Kelly-Borges, is a New Zealand scientist who specialises in sponges, their chemistry,[1] their evolution,[2] taxonomy, systematics, and ecology.

Early life and education

Born in Otago in 1961, Kelly lived in Papua New Guinea with her family from 1970 to 1980, and was educated at The Correspondence School. From 1980, she studied at the University of Auckland, and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in 1983, and a Master of Science with honours in 1987.[3] Her masterate research, supervised by Patricia Bergquist, was an investigation of the systematics and ecology of the sponges of Motupore Island in Papua New Guinea. The title of that thesis was Systematics and ecology of the sponges of Motupore Island, Papua New Guinea.[3] [4] She then earned a PhD at the University of Auckland in 1991 under the joint supervision of Patricia and Peter Bergquist, with a thesis entitled, The order Hadromerida (Porifera: Demospongiae), taxonomy and relationships of the major families,[5] and in the same year (with Patricia Bergquist) published a paper on the genus, Tethya.

Research career

From 1991 to 1992, Kelly was a post-doctoral fellow at the Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, working with Shirley Pomponi, studying natural products extracted from deep-sea sponges and analysing DNA sequences.[3] In 1994 she was collaborating with Patricia Bergquist at the University of Auckland. From 1993, she spent four years with the Natural History Museum, London, carrying out research on sponges in the Indo-Pacific,[3] before returning to New Zealand and working as a senior scientist in the Department of Landscape and Plant Science at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland and a consultant to the Coral Reef Research Foundation in Micronesia.[6] At some point she was affiliated with the University of Hawai'i System.[7] By 2001,[8] she was working at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, in Auckland, where she continues to work (as of September 2021).[3] [9]

Her zoological author abbreviations are Kelly-Borges,[10] and Kelly.[11]

Kelly has described over 80 taxa and has had at least one sponge named for her (Abyssocladia kellyae), "for her numerous contributions to sponge science, and her work on deep-sea carnivorous and non-carnivorous sponges from the SW Pacific".[12] See also taxa named by Michelle Kelly.

In 2011, Kelly was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Auckland, on the basis of her papers published since 1988 on the taxonomy, systematics and phylogeny of sponges.[13]

Notes and References

  1. free.
  2. free.
  3. Web site: Michelle Kelly . PeerJ . 10 March 2022.
  4. Kelly . Michelle . 1986 . Masters thesis . Systematics and ecology of the sponges of Motupore Island, Papua New Guinea . ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland . 2292/5966 .
  5. Kelly-Borges . Michelle . 1991 . Doctoral thesis . The Order Hadromerida (Porifera: Demospongiae), taxonomy and relationships of the major families . ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland . 2292/1994 .
  6. Book: Sponges of the New Caledonian Lagoon . 14 . 1998 . Lévy . Claude . Paris . Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération . 10 March 2022.
  7. Web site: Michelle Kelly-Borges, University of Hawaii System – Dimensions . 9 March 2022 . app.dimensions.ai . en.
  8. Web site: A who's who in studies on Porifera . 6 December 2001 . 10 March 2022.
  9. free.
  10. 170744. Aaptos tenta Kelly-Borges & Bergquist, 1994. Porifera. 9 March 2022.
  11. 578592. Abyssocladia carcharias Kelly & Vacelet, 2011. Porifera. 9 March 2022.
  12. free.
  13. Taxonomy and systematics of the Porifera: contributions and technical applications . Michelle . Kelly . 2011 . DSc . University of Auckland . 11 March 2022.