Disclaimer & Copyright Notices; Optimized for the MS Internet Explorer

With salutations to Keith Somers PhD

December 29, 2015                                  

Dr. Keith Somers BSc(Hons-Biology), Waterloo; MSc(Zoology), Toronto; PhD(Zoology), Univ. Western Ontario.
Title: Biostatistician (OMOE); Conjunct. (Trent Univ.); Adjunct Assoc. (Univ. Toronto).
Address: Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Dorset Environmental Science Centre, Bellwood Acres Road, PO Box 39, Dorset, ON, Canada P0A 1E0
Phone: (705) 766-2418; FAX 766-2254.

Recent publications:

• David, S.M., K.M. Somers, R.A. Reid, R.J. Hall and R.E. Girard. 1998. Sampling protocols for the rapid bioassessment of streams and lakes using benthic macroinvertebrates. Second edition. Dorset Environmental Science Centre, Dorset, ON, CAN. ISBN:777873788. 65pp.
• Kilgour, B.W., and K.M. Somers. 1998. The statistics of testing generic biological criteria. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry News. 18(4):20-22.
• Kilgour, B.W., K.M. Somers and D.E. Matthews. 1998. Using the normal range as a criterion for ecological significance in environmental monitoring and assessment. Ecoscience: (In press).
• Rusak, J.A., N.D. Yan, K.M. Somers and D.J. McQueen. 1999. The temporal coherence of zooplankton population abundances in neighbouring north temperate lakes. American Naturalist 153:46-58.
• Somers, K.M., R.A. Reid and S.M. David. 1998. Rapid biological assessments: How many animals are enough? J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc. 17:348-358.

Research interests:

Community organization and species interactions along environmental gradients; Statistical tools for ecology: multivariate methods and randomization tests; Issues of scale: spatial, temporal, taxonomic and numerical; Temporal coherence and long term stability of populations; Spatial analysis and geographic information systems; Population dynamics (i.e., abundance, growth and fecundity) of crayfish and fish; Limnology and island biogeography (isolation) of Canadian Shield lakes; Morphometrics: size and shape, geographic variation.

Keith Somers evaluating nearshore habitat at Paint Lake, Ontario, June 1997.


Dr. Keith Somers is an aquatic ecologist, biostatistician with the Dorset Environmental Science Centre of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Keith has been working with colleagues to develop simple but credible sampling protocols for the rapid bioassessment of lakes and streams. The secret to the success of these protocols is due to a focus on non-scientific volunteers. The protocols only require order level taxonomic identifications for samples of 100 invertebrates, which makes them particularly useful for lake and stream stakeholders! Recent efforts have addressed the question of establishing benchmarks for normal or background conditions. These benchmarks are then used to evaluate the biological health of test lakes and streams. Keith has co-authored over 25 scientific papers in a variety of freshwater journals.

We salute the Chebucto Community Net (CCN) of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for hosting our web site, and we applaud its volunteers for their devotion in making `CCN' the best community net in the world!