Staff Profile

Biography

My research focuses on the role of ballast water in the transportation of aquatic organisms across the globe. I am interested in the I have experience performing land based testing of ballast water treatment systems, ship based sample collection of ballast water and shipboard ballast water treatment system testing. I am experienced in zooplankton and phytoplankton analysis techniques, including the use of automated assessment technologies i.e. FlowCAM.

 

Education:

BSc. Marine Biology, Newcastle University UK (2006)

PhD. Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University UK (2011)

SERC Postdoctoral Fellow (2012 -)

 

Current projects:

  1. The effect of ballast water exchange on zooplankton transported in ballast water – an assessment of major US ports.
  2. The current status of phytoplankton present in ballast water.
  3. Ballast water treatment system testing for USCG approval (landbased and shipboard).
  4. An experimental assessment of the role of hull fouling in species transport.
  5. The role of propagule pressure in the success of a potential phytoplankton invader.
  6. The assessment of novel tools developed for USCG compliance testing.

 

Publications:

J Darling, J Martinson, K Lohan, KJ Carney, E Pilgrim, A Banerji, K Holzer, GM Ruiz. 2020. Metabarcoding quantifies differences in accumulation of ballast water borne biodiversity among three port systems in the United States. Science of the Total Environment. 749:141456.

B Soler-Figueroa, D Fontaine, KJ Carney, GM Ruiz, M Tamburri. 2020. Characteristics of global port phytoplankton and implications for current ballast water regulations. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 155:111165.

A Rey, KJ Carney, L Quinones, K Lohan, GM Ruiz, O Basurko, N Rodriguez-Ezpeleta. 2019. Environmental DNA metabarcoding: A promising tool for ballast water monitoring. Environmental Science and Technology. 53(20): 11849-11859.

W Batista, F Fernandes, M Neves, T Nascimento, R Lopes, C Lopes, G Ziegler, B Soler-Figueroa, D Sparks, D Fontaine, KJ Carney, L Quinones, GM Ruiz. 2018. Synthetic lipids as a biocide candidate for disinfection of ballast water. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 137:702-710.

J Darling, J Martinson, Y Gong, S Okum, E Pilgrim, K Lohan, KJ Carney, GM Ruiz. 2018. Ballast water exchange and invasion risk posed by intra-coastal vessel traffic: An evaluation using high throughput sequencing. Environmental Science and Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b02108

K Lohan, R Fleischer, KJ Carney, K Holzer, GM Ruiz. 2017. Molecular characterization of protistan species and communities in ships’ ballast water across three US coasts. Diversity and Distributions. DOI: 20.1111/ddi.12550

KJ Carney, M Minton, K Holzer, L McCann, W Miller, GM Ruiz. 2017. Evaluating the combined effects of ballast water management and trade dynamics on transfers of marine organisms by ships. PlosOne. 12(3):e0172468.

K Holzer, J Muirhead, M Minton, KJ Carney, W Miller, GM Ruiz. 2017. Potential effects of LNG trade shift on transfer of ballast water and biota by ships. Science of the Total Environment. 580:1470-1474.

I Davidson, M Minton, KJ Carney, W Miller, GM Ruiz. 2017. Pioneering patterns of ballast treatment in the emerging era of marine vector management. Marine Policy. 78:158-162.

K Lohan, RC Fleischer, KJ Carney, K Holzer, GM Ruiz. 2015. Amplicon-based pyrosequencing reveals high diversity of protistan parasites in ships ballast water: implications for biogeography and infectious diseases. Microbial Ecology. 71(3)

KJ Carney, OC Basurko, K Pazouki, S Marsham, JE Delany, D Desai, AC Anil, E Mesbahi. 2013. Difficulties in obtaining representative samples for compliance with the Ballast Water Management Convention. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 68(1-2): 99-105.

KJ Carney, JE Delany, S Sawant, E Mesbahi. 2011. The effects of prolonged darkness on temperate and tropical marine phytoplankton, and their implications for ballast water transport. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 62(6):1233-1244.