My broad research interests encompass the effects of environmental change, predominantly ocean acidification and increasing temperature, on marine benthic systems.  I am particularly interested in the effects of future oceans on coastal and intertidal sediments, with a focus on the role of microphytobenthos in biogeochemical cycling under predicted future scenarios.

My current research is examining the potential impacts of a CO₂ leak from a carbon capture storage (CCS) site, to ascertain changes in benthic biogeochemistry, and, in collaboration with colleagues from Norway, Greece and Durham, to identify changes in the benthic microbial community. This project (http://www.mn.uio.no/cees/english/research/projects/143935/) brings together researchers from SAMS, University of Oslo, University of Durham and National Technical University of Athens. 

My ocean acidification research formed part of the UK Ocean Acidification (UKOA) research programme (http://ocean-acidification.org.uk/) conducted in the benthic consortium (http://www.benthic-acidification.org/). This work combined the effects of ocean acidification, together with warming, on key benthic biogeochemical processes, such as sediment-water oxygen flux, oxygen consumption/production, nutrient cycling and primary production. This work led to the development of the SAMS flume facility, now used for a variety of CO₂ based projects (both ocean acidification and carbon capture storage).

Previous research

My PhD work (joint with University of St Andrews and Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen) focused on determining the effects of elevated CO₂ and temperature on benthic primary production under different macrofaunal diversity levels, thus incorporating two trophic levels and examining the role of diversity under changing climatic variables.