Nyawira Muthiga

Muthiga was born in Kenya, and spent part of her childhood in Dar es Salaam.{{Cite web|title=Taking care of ocean habitats|url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Taking-care-of-ocean-habitats/434746-4614744-y4yjsfz/index.html|access-date=2020-07-04|website=The East African|language=en}} She earned her undergraduate degree in biological oceanography in the United States.{{Cite web|title=Wildlife Discovery Series|url=https://www.pgcruises.com/WCS-Lectures/40130|access-date=2020-07-04|website=Paul Gauguin Cruises|language=en}} She completed her master's degree at the Florida State University, where she studied the impact of salinity on the photosynthesis of Siderastrea siderea.{{Cite thesis|title=The effects of salinity stress on the respiration and photosynthesis of the hermatypic coral Siderastrea siderea|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11880436|date=1984|language=English|first=Nyawira A|last=Muthiga|oclc=11880436}} Muthiga returned to Kenya for her doctoral research, where she joined the University of Nairobi.{{cn|date=July 2020}}

In 2000 Muthiga was elected President of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association Board of Trustees (WIOMSA). She oversaw the growth of the WIOMSA internationally, building local chapters and networks.{{Cite web|title=Nyawira Muthiga|url=https://www.wiomsa.org/personnel/nyawira-muthiga/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=WIOMSA|language=en-US}} Muthiga worked for the Kenya Wildlife Service where she led the coastal and wetland programme.{{Cite web|date=2014-03-31|title=Honoring the Women Who Fight for Our Ocean (Part 3)|url=https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2014/03/31/honoring-the-women-who-fight-for-our-ocean-part-3/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=Ocean Conservancy|language=en}} In this capacity, Muthiga was made of Chair of the Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation programme.{{Cite web|title=Nyawira Muthiga|url=https://oceanfdn.org/staff/nyawira-muthiga/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=The Ocean Foundation|language=en-US}} She has worked to survey hundreds of different coral reefs on the Western Indian Ocean.{{Cite web|date=2015-06-12|title=Expedition Madagascar: Conserving Coral Reefs with Community Conservation|url=https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2015/06/12/expedition-madagascar-conserving-coral-reefs-with-community-conservation/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=National Geographic Society Newsroom|language=en-US}}

Muthiga was a founder of the Wildlife Conservation Society coral reef programme, which researches and deploys programmes that can conserve coral reefs, as well as identifying novel ways to allow critical species to recover.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2018|title=ACE AWARD 2018 NOMINEE|url=https://www.wildscapesfoundation.org/ace-award/conservation-heroes/timothy-mcclanahan-phd-nyawira-muthiga-phda|access-date=|website=Wildscapes Foundation}}{{Cite web|title=Staff|url=https://global.wcs.org/Resources/Staff/projectid/-1/currentpage/1.aspx|access-date=2020-07-04|website=global.wcs.org}} The programme helps to protect 90% of the world's coral species and has surveyed almost 1,000 sites across the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean Sea.{{Cite web|title=Coral - WCS.org|url=https://www.wcs.org/our-work/species/coral|access-date=2020-07-04|website=www.wcs.org|language=en}} In 2007 Muthiga joined the World Commission on Protected Areas as the Kenya coordinator. She has argued that to preserve coral reefs, social and environmental scientists must work together.{{Cite web|title=Integrating social and ecological science for effective coral reef conservation: Marine scientists implement a social-ecological systems framework in 85 communities across four countries|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191219142659.htm|access-date=2020-07-04|website=ScienceDaily|language=en}} She believes that the orange-lined triggerfish may play a crucial role in maintaining health corals.{{Cite web|title=Triggerfish needed to grow reefs, new research finds|url=https://phys.org/news/2016-12-triggerfish-reefs.html|access-date=2020-07-04|website=phys.org|language=en}}

Muthiga was awarded the 2018 Banovich Wildscapes Foundation Award for Conservation Excellence (ACE) for her work on ocean conservation. In 2020 Eco Magazine named Muthiga as one of the world's top coral reef researchers.{{Cite web|title=ECO ECO-SI Coral Reefs 2020 Page 12|url=http://digital.ecomagazine.com/publication/frame.php?i=664239&p=12&pn=&ver=html5|access-date=2020-07-04|website=digital.ecomagazine.com}}

• 2005 National Geographic Society/Buffett Award for Leadership{{Cite web|last=Gitaa|first=Tom|date=2005-12-01|title=National Geographic Society Honors Kenyan Marine Conservationist|url=https://mshale.com/2005/12/01/national-geographic-society-honors-kenyan-marine-conservationist/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=Mshale|language=en-US}}
• 2018 Award for Conservation Excellence
• 2020 Eco Magazine Top Coral Reef Researcher
• 2020 Coral Reef Conservation Award{{Cite web|title=Awards & Honors Recipients|url=http://coralreefs.org/awards-and-honors/recipients/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=International Coral Reef Society|language=en-US}}

Muthiga is married to American marine biologist Timothy McClanahan. She met him in the 1980s, when McClanahan was on a study-abroad programme in Kenya.{{Cite web|title=Tim McClanahan works to save coral reefs using the language of science|url=https://www.aaas.org/tim-mcclanahan-works-save-coral-reefs-using-language-science|access-date=2020-07-04|website=American Association for the Advancement of Science|language=en}}

• {{Cite journal|last1=Hoegh-Guldberg|first1=O.|last2=Mumby|first2=P. J.|last3=Hooten|first3=A. J.|last4=Steneck|first4=R. S.|last5=Greenfield|first5=P.|last6=Gomez|first6=E.|last7=Harvell|first7=C. D.|last8=Sale|first8=P. F.|last9=Edwards|first9=A. J.|last10=Caldeira|first10=K.|last11=Knowlton|first11=N.|date=2007-12-14|title=Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1152509|journal=Science|language=en|volume=318|issue=5857|pages=1737–1742|doi=10.1126/science.1152509|issn=0036-8075|pmid=18079392|bibcode=2007Sci...318.1737H |hdl=1885/28834|s2cid=12607336|hdl-access=free}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Koch|first1=Evamaria W.|last2=Barbier|first2=Edward B.|last3=Silliman|first3=Brian R.|last4=Reed|first4=Denise J.|last5=Perillo|first5=Gerardo ME|last6=Hacker|first6=Sally D.|last7=Granek|first7=Elise F.|last8=Primavera|first8=Jurgenne H.|last9=Muthiga|first9=Nyawira|last10=Polasky|first10=Stephen|last11=Halpern|first11=Benjamin S.|date=2009|title=Non-linearity in ecosystem services: temporal and spatial variability in coastal protection|url=https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/080126|journal=Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|pages=29–37|doi=10.1890/080126|bibcode=2009FrEE....7...29K |s2cid=53957452 |issn=1540-9309|hdl=11336/28652|hdl-access=free}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=McClanahan|first1=Tim R.|last2=Graham|first2=Nicholas A. J.|last3=MacNeil|first3=M. Aaron|last4=Muthiga|first4=Nyawira A.|last5=Cinner|first5=Joshua E.|last6=Bruggemann|first6=J. Henrich|last7=Wilson|first7=Shaun K.|date=2011-10-11|title=Critical thresholds and tangible targets for ecosystem-based management of coral reef fisheries|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=108|issue=41|pages=17230–17233|doi=10.1073/pnas.1106861108|issn=0027-8424|pmid=21949381|pmc=3193203|bibcode=2011PNAS..10817230M |doi-access=free}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Conservationists

Category:21st-century Kenyan women scientists

Category:21st-century Kenyan scientists

Category:University of Nairobi alumni

Category:Florida State University alumni