Abstract
We were interested in understanding what effect increasing ocean dissolved CO2/decreasing pH might have on the biofilms on plastic. At naturally CO2-enriched coastal water sites in Japan, we set up an experiment with plastic bottles anchored to weights. After three weeks, we sampled the biofilms under each set of conditions, and sequenced for the 16s bacterial rRNA gene. We found some differences in bacterial communities between the three treatments, including an increase in possible plastic degrading bacteria. There was no change in the pathogen group Vibrio. Ongoing work including functional metagenome sequencing of these samples may give better answers. It appears likely that ocean acidification will result in changes in the biofilms on ocean plastic, but as yet the significance remains highly uncertain.
University Qualifications:
B.A. Botany. University of Oxford, St Catherine's College (1986)
M.Sc. degree in Ecology. University of North Wales at Bangor (1988). Dissertation title;'The Geographical Ecology of Tree Species Richness'.
Doctorate (PhD) of the Faculte des Sciences de CNRS Luminy, and Universite D'Aix-Marseille II, France (1995). Laboratoire de Geologie du Quaternaire (now combined with CEREGE). Supervisor; Professor Hugues Faure. Title;'The role of terrestrial ecosystems in glacial to interglacial changes in the global carbon cycle'
Employment History (since PhD) :
June 2017 – September 2018. Full Professor, Cranfield University, UK.
Sept 2011-May 2017. Associate Professor at SNU.
Sept 2009. Appointment as Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Korea.
(Concurrently with SNU) 2008-2010 Brain Gain Fellow at Universiti Putra Malaysia, in Malaysia. Work on metagenomics of soil, root and leaf-based micro-organisms.
2004–2008 Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.
2000-2004. Temporary Lecturer in Environmental Science and Ecology, Providence College, Rhode Island, USA, and Visiting Assistant Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Connecticut, USA.
1998 -1999. Temporary Lecturer, Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia.
1996 -1998 Postdoc. (Wigner Fellowship), Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, USA.
1996. Post-doctoral fellowship at Department of Biological Anthropology, of the University of Cambridge, UK (in association with Kings College, University of Cambridge).
