At present I am interested in biochemistry, zooplankton ecology and the effects of food sources and environmental variables on zooplankton physiological processes.
My PhD synopsis:
Mesozooplankton make a significant contribution to the marine biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen through their respiration, excretion and vertical migration. The greatest proportion of the carbon dioxide taken up by phytoplankton during photosynthesis is recycled back to carbon dioxide through the respiration of phytoplankton, bacteria, protists and mesozooplankton. Yet the magnitude and variability of the respiration of each of these plankton functional types is poorly constrained. Ecosystem models parameterise mesozooplankton respiration in terms of basal respiration which is related to temperature but independent of feeding and metabolic respiration which is proportional to feeding or assimilation.
My PhD synopsis:
Mesozooplankton make a significant contribution to the marine biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen through their respiration, excretion and vertical migration. The greatest proportion of the carbon dioxide taken up by phytoplankton during photosynthesis is recycled back to carbon dioxide through the respiration of phytoplankton, bacteria, protists and mesozooplankton. Yet the magnitude and variability of the respiration of each of these plankton functional types is poorly constrained. Ecosystem models parameterise mesozooplankton respiration in terms of basal respiration which is related to temperature but independent of feeding and metabolic respiration which is proportional to feeding or assimilation.
Experiments will also be conducted to assess the potential impact of the predicted effects of climate change: decreasing inorganic nutrient supply on copepod physiological rates. The project will combine laboratory work, open ocean fieldwork, data synthesis and modelling, and will benefit from use of the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey’s 80 year dataset of the ecology and biogeography of plankton in the North Atlantic.
I work in collaboration with UEA (University of East Anglia) http://www.uea.ac.uk
and SAHFOS http://www.sahfos.ac.uk/
SO FAR:
Well I have started my data collection, in fact I have recently returned from a scientific cruise. We crossed the Atlantic from the UK to Chile. Check out the blog of the cruise here: http://www.amtblog.org.uk/ I have been mentioned in there a few times, he he. We worked hard but we also had fun. I'll go into details later on.
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