Rate My Professor Nick Ling

Nicholas Ling, known as Nick Ling, is an Associate Professor in Biodiversity and Ecology at Te Aka Mātuatua School of Science, University of Waikato, where he has served as a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences since 1992. He earned his BSc and MSc from the University of Waikato and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Auckland between 1984 and 1990, with his doctoral research examining swim bladder structure and biomechanics in snapper. Following his PhD, Ling held a brief postdoctoral position at King’s College London.

Ling’s principal research interests lie in animal ecophysiology, ecotoxicology, and the ecology of invasive and endemic freshwater fishes, including conservation genetics of New Zealand threatened species and alien fishes. His current projects involve using scent detection dogs to detect invasive koi carp and galaxiid spawning sites, ecotoxicological assessments of toxic trace elements, and behavioral studies on freshwater and marine fish, as well as diverse taxa such as giraffe, turtles, kiwi, and bats. He has produced over 120 publications, garnering more than 3,900 citations and an h-index of 31. Key works include “Rotenone—a review of its toxicity and use for fisheries management” (2003), “Age composition, growth, and reproduction of koi carp (Cyprinus carpio) in the lower Waikato region, New Zealand” (2006), “Movements of radio- and acoustic-tagged adult koi carp in the Waikato River, New Zealand” (2011), and recent papers such as “How low can they go: A comparison between dog (Canis familiaris) and environmental DNA detection of invasive koi carp (Cyprinus rubrofuscus)” (2022) and “Dogs can detect carp (Cyprinus rubrofuscus) using lake water samples” (2025). He contributed the chapter “Management of Invasive Fish” to the book Invasive Species Management: A Handbook of Techniques (2010). Ling’s research informs invasive species management, particularly koi carp in the Waikato. He is a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (2021-2025) and New Zealand representative on the Australian Society for Fish Biology Fish Welfare Committee.