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Biogeochemistry
Our research is aimed at understanding nutrients, trace metals and carbon cycling in the present and past oceans, with emphasis on silica and calcium carbonate biomineralising organisms. Our strengths lie in developing and applying trace metal and isotopic analysis techniques to samples collected from nature and grown in controlled laboratory cultures. Our current focus is on:
- Understanding the mechanisms of trace metal and isotope incorporation into biogenically precipitated aragonite, calcite and silica;
- Reconstructing past and current environmental change using natural archives including foraminifera, corals, siliceous sponges and diatoms;
- Understanding the role trace elements play in regulating phytoplankton physiology and productivity, particularly in the Southern Ocean and seas of the Australian region.
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- Fallon, S.J., Guilderson, T.P. (2008). Surface water processes in the Indonesian throughflow as documented by a high-resolution coral Δ14C record. Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans, 113(9). DOI: 10.1029/2008JC004722
- Eggins, S.M., Sadekov, A., De Deckker, P. (2004). Modulation and banding of Mg/Ca in Orbulina universa tests by symbiont photosynthesis and respiration: A complication for seawater thermometry? Earth Planetary Science Letters, 225, pp.411-419.
- Ellwood, M.J., Wille M., Maher, W.A. (2010). Glacial silicic acid concentrations in the Southern Ocean. Science 330(6007), pp. 1088-1091
- Strzepek, R.F., Maldonado, M.T., Hunter, K.A., Frew, R.D., Boyd, P.W. (2011). Adaptive strategies by Southern Ocean phytoplankton to lessen iron limitation: Uptake of organically complexed iron and reduced cellular iron requirements. Limnology and Oceanography, 56(6), pp. 1983-2002.
- Yu, J., Broecker, W.S., Elderfield, H., Jin, Z., McManus, J., Zhang, F. (2010). Loss of Carbon from the Deep Sea Since the Last Glacial Maximum. Science, 330(6007), pp. 1084-1087
- Yu J., Thornalley D.J.R., Rae J.W.B., McCave I.N., (2013). Calibration and application of B/Ca, Cd/Ca and d11B in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) to constrain CO2 uptake in the subpolar North Atlantic during the last deglaciation. Paleoceanography, doi: 10.1029/2012PA002432.
- Diaz-Pulido, G., Nash, M.C., Anthony, K.R.N., Bender, D., Opdyke, B.N., Reyes-Nivia, C., Troitzsch, U. (2014), Greenhouse conditions induce mineralogical changes and dolomite accumulation in coralline algae on tropical reefs. Nature Communications, doi10.1038/ncomms4310.
- Boyd, P.W., Ellwood, M.J. (2010). The biogeochemical cycle of iron in the ocean. Nature Geoscience 3(10): 675-682
- Nash, M.C., Opdyke, B.N., Troitzsch, U., Russell, B.D., Adey, W.H., Kato, A., Diaz-Pulido, G., Brent, C., Gardner, M., Prichard, J., Kline, D.I. (2012). Dolomite-rich coralline algae in reefs resist dissolution in acidified conditions. Nature Climate Change doi:10.1038/Nature Climate Change1760.
