Dr Gill Notman, PhD

Biography

Gill’s passion for wildlife and the natural world began in childhood, exploring the rivers and landscapes of north Cumbria and the shorelines of the west coast of Scotland.  She is an experienced aquatic ecologist with a background in applied and environmental chemistry, trophic ecology and pollution biology. 

Gill graduated with first class honours in Aquatic Bioscience from Glasgow University 2001 and gained her MSc in the Biology of Water Resource Management from Napier University in 2002.  Her BSc honours project examined the effects of heavy metal pollution on freshwater snails and her masters research (based on Esthwaite Water in the Lake District) looked at the fluctuating concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous in the surface waters of a thermally stratified temperate lake. 

After her Masters, Gill worked for an aquatic environmental consultancy in Manchester carrying out impact assessments and routine monitoring of both coastal and inland waters, followed by two years working as a research assistant at the Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE) within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park

Before starting her PhD, Gill worked at an aquaculture facility in Argyll and Bute, raising juvenile halibut in a sustainable and environmentally sensitive way and volunteered with a conservation organisation in Ecuador, researching mangrove clam fisheries, organic prawn production and restoring areas of degraded coastal rainforest.  Gill completed her SCUBA training on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and spent time underwater in Thailand and Malaysia enjoying the wonders that tropical seas have to offer before returning to the UK to pursue her academic career. 

Gill’s PhD research was based at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban and the Marine Biological Association (MBA) in Plymouth.  Her work examined the effects of biodiversity on food choice in grazing gastropods (limpets, periwinkles and top shells) in the two regions using a wide range of ecological and chemical techniques.

In 2011 Gill joined the University of Cumbria as a lecturer in Applied Chemistry teaching on the Forensic Science, Forestry and Conservation programmes.  In 2015 she led the validation of the BSc (Hons) Marine and Freshwater Conservation programme and has recently coordinated the creation of a new and exciting BSc (Hons) Ecology and Wildlife Conservation degree which will begin in September 2025 at our Ambleside campus, in the heart of Cumbria’s beautiful Lake District National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Qualifications and memberships

• Fellow of Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Member of Freshwater Biological Society (FBA)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching for Higher Education, University of Cumbria (2013)
• PhD ‘A comparison of the trophic ecology of grazing gastropods on the rocky shores of northern and southern Britain’, Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), Marine Biological Association (MBA), University of Aberdeen (2011)
• MSc Distinction Biology of Water Resource Management, Napier University (2002)
• BSc (Hons) First Class Aquatic Bioscience, University of Glasgow (2001)

Academic and research interests

Marine and freshwater ecology and conservation, biology and ecology of aquatic molluscs, wildlife biology, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem functioning, goods and services, environmental chemistry, pollution, plastics in aquatic environments, ecological applications of stable isotope chemistry, bioremediation and habitat restoration.

Publications

Jones, A.L., Thap, R., Ry, S., Vong, V., Nget, V., Freneat, T. and Notman, G.M. (2024) ‘Investigating sea turtle bycatch in Southern Cambodia’. Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 23 (1) pp. 1 - 5.

Notman, G.M. (2023)  How do we prepare the freshwater scientists of the future?  Oral Presentation.  Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences, Newcastle, UK 2023.

Notman, G.M. and Picchi, C. (2022) Public Q&A session Deep Time Project,  The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven.

Lavictoire, L., Notman, G.M, Pentecost, A.,  Moorkens. E.A., Ramsey, A.D. and Sweeting, R.A. (2020) ‘Substrate parameters affecting propagation of juvenile freshwater pearl mussels Margaritifera margaritifera (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae)’.  Journal of Conchology, 43 (5), pp. 467-480.

Tubbs, S., Bas, A.A., Côté, G., Jones, A.L. and Notman, G.M. (2019) ‘Sighting and Stranding Reports of Irrawaddy Dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) and Dugongs (Dugong dugon) in Kep and Kampot, Cambodia’.  Aquatic Mammals, 45(5), pp 563-568. 

Hawkins, S.J., Pack, K.E., Firth, L.B., Mieszkowska, N., Evans, A.J., Martins, G.M., Åberg, P., Adams, L.C, Arenas, F., Boaventura, D.M.,  Bohn, K., Borges, C.D.G., Castro, J.J., Coleman, R.A., Crowe, T.P., Cruz, T., Davies, M.S., Epstein,G.,  Faria, J., Ferreira, J.G., Griffin, J.N., Herbert, R.J.H., Hyder, K.,  Johnson, M.P., Lima, F.P., Masterson-Algar, P.E., Moore, P.J., Moschella, P.S., Notman, G.M.,  Pannacciulli, F.G., Ribeiro, P.A., Santos, A.M., Silva, A.C.F., Skov, M.W., Sugden^, H., Vale, M., Wangkulangkul, K., Wort, E.,  Thompson, R.C., Hartnoll, R.G., Burrows, M.T. and Jenkins,  S.R.  (2019) The Intertidal Zone of the Northeast Atlantic Region: Pattern and Process.  In: Hawkins, S.J., Bohn, K., Firth, L.B. and Williams, G.A (eds) Interactions in the Marine Benthos Global Patterns and Processes Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Notman, G.M. (2018) Authentic Assessment in Conservation Science. Oral Presentation. University of Cumbria Teaching and Learning Fest, Lancaster, June 2018.

Notman, G.M., Hawkins, S.J., McGill, R.A.R. and Burrows, M.T. (2016) ‘Macroalgae contribute to the diet of Patella vulgata from contrasting conditions of latitude and wave exposure in the UK’. Marine Ecology Progress Series 549, pp. 113-123.

Notman, G.M., Burrows, M. T., Hawkins, S. J. & McGill, R. A. R. (2012) ‘Stable isotope evidence for convergent resource use in intertidal grazing gastropods within experimental microcosms’. Poster Presentation. 7th International Conference on Applications of Stable Isotopes to Ecological Studies, French Research Institute for the Exploration of the Sea, Brest, France.

Notman, G.M., Burrows, M. T., Hawkins, S. J. & McGill, R. A. R. (2011) ‘The mutual mucus ingestion hypothesis. Evidence of convergent resource use in intertidal grazing gastropods within experimental microcosms’. Oral Presentation. 9th International Temperate Reefs Symposium, Plymouth.

Huntingford, F.A., Andrew, G., Mackenzie, S, Morera, D., Coyle, S.M., Pilarczyk, M. and Kadri, S. (2010) ‘Coping strategies in a strongly schooling fish, the common carp Cyprinus carpio’.  Journal of Fish Biology 76, pp. 1576-1591.

Andrew, G. M., Burrows, M. T., Hawkins, S. J. & McGill, R. A. R.  (2008)  ‘Seaweed or biofilm?  Experimental approaches to examine the diet of Patella vulgata using stable isotopes’.  Poster Presentation.  6th International Conference on Applications of Stable Isotopes to Ecological Studies, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA.

Recent external roles

• External Examiner BSc (Hons) Wildlife Conservation & Ecology, Reaseheath College (2015 – 2020)
• KTP Academic Supervisor 'Freshwater mussels as a control for algae in nuclear fuel ponds' (2014)

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