[4] His PhD (under Wally Clark)[5] was on nematodes of dune sands, and was completed in 1968 at the University of Canterbury.

'[8] Yeates spent most of his working life at Soil Bureau, a division of DSIR, which became Landcare Research.

[9] He published over 200 papers and described over 100 species in genera including Longidorus, Xiphinema, Hemicycliophora, Trischistoma and Dorylaimida.

[8] He studied the New Zealand flatworm Arthurdendyus triangulatus in its native environment,[8] supporting work in the United Kingdom where it became established as an invasive pest.

He was later involved with Te Manawa in Palmerston North[11][12][13] and the Royal Society of New Zealand at both a local[14] and a national level.