Rawlings, Timothy A.

Contact Information

Assistant Professor in Biology
School of Science & Technology
PO Box 5300, 1250 Grand Lake Road,
Cape Breton University
Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, CANADA

Office: A132-H
Tel: 902-563-1138
Fax: 902-563-1880

Biography

Dr. Tim Rawlings is a new addition to the Department of Biology, joining the faculty at the assistant professor level in July, 2006.  Tim undertook both his BSc (Hons) and MSc in Zoology at the University of British Columbia (1986; 1989), and his PhD at the University of Alberta (1995).  His Masters and PhD research were based at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on the west coast of Vancouver Island, focusing on the evolutionary ecology of marine intertidal invertebrates.  Tim’s postdoctoral research has included periods at the Florida International University in Miami and at the Natural History Museum in London, England.  Much of this postdoctoral research has involved the use of molecular tools to explore patterns of gene flow/movement among freshwater and marine invertebrates, to interpret phylogenetic relationships among species, and to reconstruct species radiations over millions of years.  Most recently, he has employed molecular tools to determine the identity and provenance of invasive freshwater snails appearing in the southern U.S. and to elucidate vectors of introduction.  Broadly, Tim’s interests focus on the ecology of freshwater and marine invertebrates, and those factors (both environmental and anthropogenic) that have influenced and are currently influencing their evolution through time.  Since arriving in Cape Breton, Tim has established a research program that uses snails as biomonitors of environmental pollutants to assay the level of contaminants present in Sydney Harbour and surrounding regions.  In 2005, Tim was made an honorary Research Associate (5-yr tenure) at the Field Museum in Chicago, IL.

Representative Papers/Presentations

Rawlings, T. A., K. A. Hayes, R. H. Cowie , and T. M. Collins.  2007. The identity, distribution, and impacts of non-native apple snails in the continental United States. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7:97 (26 June 2007). 14 pages. pdf

Rawlings, T. A., T. M. Collins and R. Bieler. 2003. Changing identities: tRNA duplication and remolding within animal mitochondrial genomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100 (26): 15700-15705. pdf

Collins, T. M., J. C. Trexler, L. G. Nico, and T. A. Rawlings. 2002. Genetic diversity in a morphologically conservative invasive taxon: Multiple introductions of the swamp eel to the southeastern U.S. Conservation Biology 16(4): 1024-1035. pdf

Rawlings, T. A., T. M. Collins, and R. Bieler. 2001. Major gene rearrangement among closely related species. Molecular Biology and Evolution 18(8):1604-1609. pdf

Rawlings, T. A. 1996. Shields against ultraviolet radiation: An additional protective role for the capsular cases of benthic marine gastropods. Marine Ecology Progress Series 136: 81-95. 

Publications

Rawlings, T. A., K. A. Hayes, R. H. Cowie , and T. M. Collins.  2007. The identity, distribution, and impacts of non-native apple snails in the continental United States. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7:97 (26 June 2007). 14 pages.

Mikkelsen, P. M., R. Bieler, I. Kappner, and T. A. Rawlings. 2006. Phylogeny of Veneroidea (Mollusca: Bivalvia) based on morphology and molecules. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 148: 439–521.

Rawlings, T. A., T. M. Collins and R. Bieler. 2003. Changing identities: tRNA duplication and remolding within animal mitochondrial genomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100 (26): 15700-15705.

Collins, T. M., J. C. Trexler, L. G. Nico, and T. A. Rawlings. 2002. Genetic diversity in a morphologically conservative invasive taxon: Multiple introductions of the swamp eel to the southeastern U.S. Conservation Biology 16(4): 1024-1035.

Rawlings, T. A., T. M. Collins, and R. Bieler. 2001. Major gene rearrangement among closely related species. Molecular Biology and Evolution 18(8):1604-1609.

Rawlings, T. A. 1999. Adaptations to physical stresses in the intertidal zone: the egg capsules of neogastropod mollusks. Invited paper for the symposium: Aquatic Organisms, Terrestrial Eggs: Early Development at the Water’s Edge, organized by K. Martin and R.R. Strathmann. Annual meeting of the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology. American Zoologist 39: 230-43.

Rawlings, T. A 1996. Shields against ultraviolet radiation: An additional protective role for the capsular cases of benthic marine gastropods. Marine Ecology Progress Series 136: 81-95.

Rawlings, T. A. 1995. Direct observation of encapsulated development in muricid gastropods. Veliger 38: 54-60.

Rawlings, T. A. 1994. Encapsulation of eggs by marine gastropods: Effect of variation in capsule form on the vulnerability of embryos to predation. Evolution 48: 1301-13.

Rawlings, T. A. 1994. Effect of elevated predation risk on the metabolic rate and spawning intensity of a rocky shore marine gastropod. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology & Ecology 181: 67-79.

Brook, H. J., T. A. Rawlings, and R.W. Davies. 1994. Protogynous sex change in the intertidal isopod, Gnorimosphaeroma oregonense (Crustacea: Isopoda). Biological Bulletin 187: 99-111.

Rawlings, T. A. 1990. Associations between egg capsule morphology and predation among populations of the marine gastropod Nucella emarginata. Biological Bulletin 179: 312-325.