Senior Scientist, Principal

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Aroon Melwani is a senior marine scientist specializing in experimental design, sample collection, and quantitative analysis of environmental data. He has over 16 years experience supporting local, regional and state agencies on sediment and water quality, contaminant bioaccumulation, and biological assessments. His technical expertise includes data management, statistical analysis, data integration, empirical modeling, and R programming.

Aroon has collaborated with scientists, policy makers, and environmental managers on the design and optimization of several major environmental programs, including regional and statewide bioaccumulation monitoring surveys, the San Francisco Bay and Delta RMPs, and sediment quality studies at the regional and state level. Aroon is also highly experienced in sampling designs based on EPA’s Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified (GRTS) method for ambient condition assessments. Aroon has both implemented the GRTS method, as well assisted in the interpretation of probabilistic data for water quality and habitat evaluations at the regional scale. Aroon received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Macquarie University, an M.S. in Marine Science from California State University at Monterey Bay, and a B.S. in Oceanography and Marine Biology from the University of Southampton.

Certifications

  • PADI Open Water Diver (1997)

Publications

  • Melwani. A.R., Negrey, J., Heim, W.A., Coale, K.H., Stephenson, M.D., and Davis, J.A. 2019. Factors influencing methylmercury contamination of black bass from California reservoirs, Environmental Pollution 251: 850-861
  • Goncalves, P., Anderson, K., Thompson, E.L., Melwani, A.R., Parker, L., Ross, P.M., Raftos, D.A. 2016. Rapid transcriptional acclimation following transgenerational exposure of oysters to ocean acidification, Molecular Ecology 25(19): 4836-49.
  • Raftos, D.A., Melwani, A.R., Haynes, P.A., Muralidharan, S., Birch, G.F., Amaral, V., Thompson, E.L., Taylor, D. 2016. The Biology of Environmental Stress: Molecular biomarkers in Sydney rock oysters (Saccostrea glomerata), Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts 18: 1129-1139.
  • Melwani, A.R., Thompson, E.L., Raftos, D.A. 2016. Differential proteomic response of Sydney rock oysters (Saccostrea glomerata) to prolonged environmental stress, Aquatic Toxicology 173: 53-62.
  • Green, T. J., Chataway, T., Melwani, A. R., Raftos, D. A. 2016. Proteomic analysis of hemolymph from poly (I:C)-stimulated Crassostrea gigas. Fish & Shellfish Immunology 48: 39-42.
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  • Anderson, K., Taylor, D.A., Thompson, E.L., Melwani, A. R., Nair, S.V., Raftos, D.A. 2015. Meta-analysis of studies using Suppression Subtractive Hybridization and Microarrays to investigate the effects of environmental stress on gene transcription in oysters, PLoS ONE 10(1): e0118839.
  • Birch, G., Melwani, A.R., Lee, J., Apostolatos, C. 2014. The discrepancy in concentration of metals (Cu, Pb and Zn) in oyster tissue (Saccostrea glomerata) and ambient bottom sediment (Sydney estuary, Australia). Marine Pollution Bulletin 80(1-2): 263-274.
  • Greenfield, B.K., Melwani, A.R., Bay, S. 2014. A tiered assessment framework to evaluate human health risk of contaminated sediment, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 11(3): 459-473.
  • Melwani, A.R., Gregorio, D., Jin, Y., Stephenson, M., Ichikawa, G., Siegel, E., Crane, D., Lauenstein, G. Davis, J.A. 2014. Mussel Watch Update: Long-term trends in selected contaminants from coastal California, 1977- 2010 Marine Pollution Bulletin 81(2): 291-302.
  • Thompson, B., Ranasinghe, J.A. Lowe, S., Melwani, A.R., Weisberg, S.B. 2013. Benthic macrofaunal assemblages of the San Francisco Estuary and Delta, USA Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 185: 2281-2295.
  • Greenfield, B.K., Melwani, A.R., Allen, R.M., Slotton, D.G., Ayers, S.M., Harrold, K.H., Ridolfi, K., Jahn, A., Grenier, J.L., Sandheinrich, S.B. 2013, Seasonal and annual trends in forage fish mercury concentrations, San Francisco Bay, Science of the Total Environment 444: 591-601.
  • Thompson, B., Weisberg S.B., Melwani, A.R., Lowe, S. Ranasinghe, J.A., Cadien D.B., Dauer D.M., Diaz, R.J., Fields, W., Kellogg, M., Montagne, D.E., Ode, P.R., Reish, D.J., Slattery, P.N. 2012. Low levels of agreement among experts using best professional judgment to assess mesohaline and limnetic benthic macrofaunal condition in the San Francisco Estuary. Ecological Indicators 12: 167-173.
  • Melwani, A.R., Greenfield, B.K., Byron, E.R. 2009. Empirical estimation of biota exposure range for calculation of bioaccumulation parameters. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 5: 128-139.
  • Melwani, A.R., Bezalel, S.N., Hunt, J.A., Grenier, J.L., Davis, J.A. 2009. Spatial trends and impairment assessment of mercury in fish from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed. Environmental Pollution. 157: 3137-49.
  • Melwani A.R, Kim S.L. 2008. Benthic infaunal distributions in shallow hydrothermal vent sediments. Acta Oecologica. 33(2): 162-75.
See Aroon Melwani’s featured documents