Patrick is a NERC GW4+ funded PhD student based at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and affiliated with Bristol University.
Project title: The changing Arctic: What’s the deal with organics and microbes?
Supervisors: Dr Joanna Dixon, Dr Karen Tait, Claire Widdicombe, Dr Fanny Monteiro, Dr Sandra Arndt
The overarching aim of this PhD will be to understand how phyto- and bacterioplankton respond to changes in dissolved organic matter, from the perspective of functional composition and component dissolved organic carbon consumption in the water column (from surface to benthic-pelagic interface).
Patrick will participate in two Arctic research cruises sampling across spatial environmental gradients (drift ice to open-ocean, covering both Arctic waters and Atlantic inflow), and undertaking incubation addition experiments. Patrick will also take part in an Antarctic research cruise allowing for a comparison of the Polar regions.
Prior to his PhD, Patrick completed his MSc at the International Max Planck Research School of Marine Microbiology (Bremen). During this multidisciplinary master’s programme, Patrick carried out his thesis in the biogeochemistry group. Participating in a research cruise crossing the South Pacific Gyre, where he investigated microbial turnover of phosphate.