I lead the OceanBUG research group and enjoy trying to understand the evolving interactions between phytoplankton, the ocean carbon cycle and climate. Some past projects have investigated the contrasting metal requirements of plankton, the utility of the low temperature hydrated mineral ikaite as a geological tracer, exploring the power of the biological pump with silicon isotopes, and evolution of Rubisco kinetics and carbon concentrating mechanisms in phytoplankton. Current projects include:
1) Exploring the limits of pelagic calcification rates: Why are the oceans supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate? Foraminifera and coccolithophores generate over 2 billion tonnes of carbonate/yr1 but what limits this production? We are aiming to document and build a mechanistic biological understanding of pelagic calcification efficiency and production rates, transforming our ability to predict their response to environmental change.
2) Utilising species- specific coccolithophore C and O isotopic fractionation as a mechanism to reconstruct past calcification rates, and also contrasting processes of biomineralisation.
3) Assessing the risk of alkalinity loss and reduction of carbon removal efficiency from either enhanced ocean alkalinity (through biotic calcification responses) or via secondary carbonate precipitation in rivers in response to the process of Enhanced Rock Weathering
4) Measurement of blue carbon content of sediments above a proposed carbon storage site in the North Sea and analysis of interactions of that carbon with any leaked carbon from the storage site.
5) Development of an optical electrochemical sensor able to distinguish between key phytoplankton functional groups and the particle-specific degree of calcification
6) Using geological records and physiology to understand the dominant controls of the biological pump of carbon into the deep ocean through climatic change.
7) Exploring physiological mechanisms that underpin heat tolerance against bleaching in corals at the Aldabra field site.
8) Exploring the pathways of oxygen sensing across a gradient of complexity in microalgae.