Natalie Hicks

Personal profile

Research expertise

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.

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, University of St Andrews

Award Date: 1 Jan 2011

Bachelor of Science, The University of Edinburgh

Award Date: 1 Jan 2007

Keywords

Marine Processes and Climate
Ocean acidification
climate change
benthic biogeochemistry
elevated temperature
microphytobenthos
nutrient cycling
primary production
biodiversity
multiple stressors

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Research Output

181 Citations
8 h-Index
13 Article
2 Commissioned report
1 Other report
1 Featured article
2 More
- 1 Other contribution
- 1 Working paper

Carbon on the Northwest European Shelf: Contemporary Budget and Future Influences

Legge, O., Johnson, M., Hicks, N., Jickells, T., Diesing, M., Aldridge, J., Andrews, J., Artioli, Y., Bakker, D. C. E., Burrows, M. T., Carr, N., Cripps, G., Felgate, S. L., Fernand, L., Greenwood, N., Hartman, S., Kröger, S., Lessin, G., Mahaffey, C., Mayor, D. J. & 11 others, Parker, R., Queirós, A. M., Shutler, J. D., Silva, T., Stahl, H., Tinker, J., Underwood, G. J. C., Van Der Molen, J., Wakelin, S., Weston, K. & Williamson, P., 18 Mar 2020, In : Frontiers in Marine Science. 7, 23 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Open Access

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