A5074315072- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Polar Research and Ecology
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
- Lichen and fungal ecology
- Climate change and permafrost
- Bryophyte Studies and Records
- Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
- Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation
- Diatoms and Algae Research
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
- Fern and Epiphyte Biology
- Plant and animal studies
- Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance
- Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Cryospheric studies and observations
- Plant Diversity and Evolution
- Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Light effects on plants
University of Cambridge
2013-2023
British Antarctic Survey
2010-2018
Natural Environment Research Council
2013-2014
Recent climate change on the Antarctic Peninsula is well documented [1Turner J. Barrand N.E. Bracegirdle T.J. Convey P. Hodgson D.A. Jarvis M. Jenkins A. Marshall G.J. Meredith M.P. Roscoe H. Shanklin and environment: an update.Polar Rec. 2014; 50: 237-259Crossref Scopus (613) Google Scholar, 2Turner Bindschadler R. di Prisco G. Fahrbach E. Gutt Mayewski Summerhayes C. Climate Change Environment. Scientific Committee Research, 2009Google 3Vaughan D.G. Connolley W.M. Parkinson Mulvaney King...
Annual temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula, one of most rapidly warming regions Earth, have risen by up to 0.56°C per decade since 1950s [1Turner J. Bindschadler R. Convey P. di Prisco G. Fahrbach E. Gutt Hodgson D. Mayewski Summerhayes C. Climate Change and Environment. Scientific Committee Research, Cambridge2009Google Scholar]. Terrestrial marine organisms shown changes in populations distributions over this time [2Parnikoza I. Dykyy Trokhymets V. Milinevsky Tyshenko O. Inozemtseva...
Abstract Peatlands contain a significant fraction of global soil carbon, but how these reservoirs will respond to the changing climate is still relatively unknown. A picture variations in peat organic matter chemistry aid our ability gauge peatland response climate. The goal this research test hypotheses that (a) carbohydrate content, an indicator reactivity, increase with latitude and decrease mean annual temperatures, (b) while aromatic recalcitrance, vary inversely, (c) elevation have...
Plant microbial fuel cells are a recently developed technology that exploits photosynthesis in vascular plants by harnessing solar energy and generating electrical power. In this study, the model moss species Physcomitrella patens , other environmental samples of mosses, have been used to develop non-vascular bryophyte cell (bryoMFC). A novel three-dimensional anodic matrix was successfully created characterized further tested bryoMFC determine capacity mosses generate The importance...
Intraspecific variation between crop wild relatives (CWRs) represents a source of untapped genetic diversity for improvement. At the same time, improving photosynthesis in crops has potential to enhance yield. Thus, exploring photophysiology within CWRs is an important, yet underexplored, research area. We describe common garden experiment where 320 barley accessions were grown across two seasons. A phenotyping pipeline was employed quantify >30 traits this panel. Population genetics,...
Abstract Signy Island, maritime Antarctic, lies within the region of Southern Hemisphere that is currently experiencing most rapid rates environmental change. In this study, peat cores up to 2 m in depth from four moss banks on Island were used reconstruct changes growth and climatic characteristics over late Holocene. Measurements included radiocarbon dating (to determine accumulation rates) stable carbon isotope composition cellulose estimate photosynthetic limitation by CO supply model...
The stable isotope compositions of moss tissue water (δ2H and δ18O) cellulose (δ13C δ18O), testate amoebae populations were sampled from 61 contemporary surface samples along a 600-km latitudinal gradient the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) to provide spatial record environmental change. isotopic composition represented an annually integrated precipitation signal with expected depletion increasing latitude. There was weak, but significant, relationship between δ18O latitude, predicted source inputs...
Carbonyl sulphide (COS) is a potential tracer of gross primary productivity (GPP), assuming unidirectional COS flux into the vegetation that scales with GPP. However, carbonic anhydrase (CA), enzyme hydrolyses COS, expected to be light independent, and thus plants without stomata should continue take up in dark. We measured net CO2 (AC ) (AS uptake rates from two astomatous bryophytes at different relative water contents (RWCs), concentrations, temperatures intensities. found large AS dark,...
Liverworts and mosses are a major component of the epiphyte flora tropical montane forest ecosystems. Canopy access was used to analyse distribution vertical stratification bryophyte epiphytes within tree crowns at nine sites across 3400 m elevational gradient in Peru, from Amazonian basin high Andes. The stable isotope compositions organic material ( 13 C/ 12 C 18 O/ 16 O) associated with surface water diffusive limitations and, along C/N content, provide generic index for extent cloud...
.Glaciers in small mountain cirques on South Georgia respond rapidly and sensitively to changes Atlantic climate. The timing rate of their deglaciation can be used examine the impact that nineteenth‐ twentieth‐century climate change has had glacial dynamics terrestrial ecosystems Georgia. As part a reconnaissance study Prince Olav Harbour (POH), Georgia, we measured size lichens (Rhizocarpon Ram. em Th. Fr. subgenus. Rhizocarpon group) ice‐free moraine ridges around two cirques. Our aims...
The Antarctic Peninsula experienced a rapid rise in regional temperature during the second half of 20th century, but pattern multi-centennial changes and their dynamical drivers remain poorly understood. Here we use proxies biological productivity rare, deep moss banks to infer past surface air on identify these changes. Late Holocene temperatures are broadly consistent between low-elevation bank records high-elevation ice core site, conclude that variation strength westerlies, linked...
Carbon stable isotope (δ13C) records from vascular plant dominated peatlands have been used as a palaeoclimate proxy, but better empirical understanding of fractionation processes in these ecosystems is required. Here, we test the potential δ13C analysis ombrotrophic restiad New Zealand, by wire rush (Empodisma spp.), to provide methodology for developing palaeoclimatic records. We took surface samples alongside measurements water table depth and (micro)climate over spatial (six sites...
Variations in the isotopic composition of precipitation are determined by fractionation processes which occur during temperature- and humidity-dependent phase changes associated with evaporation condensation. Oxygen stable isotope ratios have therefore been frequently used as a source palaeoclimate data from variety proxy archives, integrate this signal over time. Applications ombrotrophic peatlands, where water cellulose synthesis is derived solely precipitation, mostly limited to Northern...
Abstract Oxygen isotope palaeoclimate records, preserved in moss tissue cellulose, are complicated by environmental influences on the relationships between source water inputs and evaporative conditions. We carried out stable analyses of precipitation collected from maritime Antarctic cellulose extracted co‐located Chorisodontium aciphyllum dominated peat bank deposits accumulated since 1870 A.D. Analyses oxygen hydrogen composition summer Signy Island (60.7°S, 45.6°W) established a local...
Precise and sufficiently detailed morphological taxonomy is vital in biology, for example the accurate interpretation of ecological palaeoecological datasets, especially polar regions, where biodiversity poor. Testate amoebae on Antarctic Peninsula (AP) are well-documented variations their population size have recently been interpreted as a proxy microbial productivity changes response to recent regional climate change. AP testate amoeba assemblages dominated by small number globally...
Bryophytes are unable to control tissue water content although physiological adaptations allow growth in a wide range of habitats. Carbon isotope signals two mosses (Syntrichia ruralis and Chorisodontium aciphyllum) liverworts (Conocephalum conicum Marchantia polymorpha), whether instantaneous (real time, Δ13C), or organic matter (as δ13COM), provide an assimilation-weighted summary bryophyte environmental adaptations. In mosses, δ13COM is within the measured Δ13C values, which suggests that...
Summary The extent of an external water layer around moss tissue influences CO 2 assimilation. Experiments on the desiccation‐tolerant S yntrichia ruralis assessed real‐time dependence carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions H O in terms status integrated isotope signals cellulose. As (capillary) water, then mesophyll evaporated from tissue, assimilation rate, relative content stable composition (δ 18 TW ), fluxes, were analysed. After drying, 13 C ) cellulose determined. During desiccation,...
The distributions of CAM and C3 epiphytic bromeliads across an altitudinal gradient in western Panama were identified from carbon isotope (δ13C) signals, epiphyte water balance was investigated via oxygen isotopes (δ18O) wet dry seasons. There significant seasonal differences leaf (δ18Olw), precipitation, stored ‘tank’ vapour. Values δ18Olw evaporatively enriched at low altitude the season for epiphytes, associated with relative humidity (RH) during day. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)...
Living moss biomass and archival peat deposits represent key indicators of present past climatic conditions, but prediction future impacts requires appropriate marker species to be characterized under a range contemporary conditions. Stable isotope signals in high latitude offer potential proxies. Seasonal changes δ 13 C 18 O organic material (cellulose) representative functional groups, associated photosynthetic activity (as chlorophyll fluorescence) have been compared across East Anglia,...
Abstract Chilling stress has the potential to significantly decrease growth and yield of sensitive crop plants such as maize. Based on previous work, high light during chilling may exacerbate via enhanced photoinhibition but also aid acclimation responses chilling. To further understand molecular processes behind with without light, two maize accessions contrasting tolerance (B73 F7) were exposed three treatments: chilling, combined alone. Transcriptome data indicated that treatment resulted...