A/P Jeffrey TB Kwik

Associate Professor
Email: jeffrey.kwik@singaporetech.edu.sg
PhD National University of Singapore | MSc University of Queensland | BSc(Hons) Flinder’s University South Australia

Background and current projects

Dr. Kwik is currently an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology involved environmental sustainability research and education. Prior to SIT, I was a senior researcher at the National University of Singapore studying various aspects of community ecology and biology in Singapore’s aquatic habitats; a lecturer at the University of Queensland co-ordinating their Australian marine biology programs; and a lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic teaching aquaculture, fish husbandry, health, and disease management. I am a fish biologist and ecologist with experience studying fishes in both freshwater and marine habitats, and across tropical to temperate ecosystems in countries including Singapore, Indonesia, Fiji, and Australia. My specific areas of expertise include the trophic and community ecology, growth and development, invasive biology, reproductive biology, and the sensory biology of fishes. Since 2005, I have been involved in several PUB-commissioned grants involving applied research projects involving water sustainability including studying the freshwater fish communities and characterizing the food webs in the reservoirs and waterways of Singapore; researching the environmental impacts of floating solar panels on the aquatic and avian communities within and along the perimeters of reservoirs; and more recently, investigating the applications of nature-based solutions (i.e. biomanipulation techniques) for improving water quality and controlling nuisance issues (i.e., midges) in Singapore’s reservoirs.  

 

Research interests

  • Reproductive biology of fish
  • Growth in tropical marine and freshwater fish
  • Trophic interactions in fish communities
  • Ecological aspects of fish venom


Editorships

  • Associate editor, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
  • Associate editor, Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology


Selected publications

  • Liew JH, Jardine TD, Lim RBH, Kwik JTB, Tan HH, Kho ZY & Yeo DCJ. 2018. Bottom‐up influences on tropical freshwater food web structure support the “environmental filtering” hypothesis. Limnology and Oceanography, 63(5): 1877–1890. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10813
  • Kwik JTB. 2017. Length‐weight relationships for three species of common scorpaenoids from Singapore. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 34(3): 715–716. https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.13586
  • Lim NKM, Tay YC, Srivathsan A, Tan JWT, Kwik JTB, Baloğlu B, Meier R & Yeo DCJ. 2016. Next-generation freshwater bioassessment: eDNA metabarcoding with a conserved metazoan primer reveals species-rich and reservoir-specific communities. Royal Society Open Science, 3(11): 160635. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160635
  • Kwik JTB & Yeo DCJ. 2015. Differences in fish assemblages in protected and non-protected freshwater streams in a tropical urbanized country. Hydrobiologia, 762(1): 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2344-8
  • Ng HH, Low BW, Kwik JTB & Yeo DCJ. 2014. The tables are turned: an invasive species under potential threat. Biological Invasions, 16(8): 1567–1571. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0618-5
  • Kwik JTB, Kho ZY, Quek BS, Tan HH & Yeo DCJ. 2013. Urban stormwater ponds in Singapore: potential pathways for spread of alien freshwater fishes. BioInvasions Records, 2(3): 239–245. http://dx.doi.org/10.3391/bir.2013.2.3.11
  • Kwik JTB. 2012. Controlled culling of venomous marine fishes along popular beaches: A case study of public safety management in the marine environment. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement, 25: 93–99.
  • Lim KKP & Kwik JTB. 2012. Records of the Chinese cyprinid fish, Toxobramis houdemeri in Singapore. Nature in Singapore, 5: 271–273.
  • Chou LM, Huang DW, Tun PPK, Kwik JTB, Tay YC & Seow LY. 2010. Temporal changes in reef community structure at Bintan Island (Indonesia) suggest need for integrated management. Pacific Science, 64(1): 99–111.
  • Kwik JTB, Chen PZ, Sin TM & Ng PKL. 2010. Diel variations and diversity of fish communities along the unreclaimed shallow coastal of coastal habitats of Changi Point Beach, Singapore. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 58(1): 125–135.
  • Whitehead DL, Kwik JTB & Tibbetts IR. 2008. Ampullary organ morphology and distribution of the estuarine long eel-tailed catfish, Euristhmus lepturus. Zoomorphology, 128(2): 111–117.
  • Kwik JTB. 2003. Short-term field observations on the habitat preferences of the Leafy Seadragon, Phycodurus eques. Waves, 9(4): 22–23.
  • Kwik JTB & Tibbetts IR. 1999. An assessment of carbon dioxide gassing as a sampling technique for studies of the nekton of soft-sediment intertidal pools. Hydrobiologia, 405: 217–222.