I am a PhD candidate, studying at the National Marine Science Centre with my research interest being microbial processes in groundwater. The main focus of my PhD is to look into the dynamics of seaweed wrecks that are deposited on the beach after storm events. As the seaweed wracks degrade on the beach, carbon and nutrients originating from the degradation process leaches into beach groundwater and eventually may re-enter the marine environment. I intend to close the gap of knowledge on the fluxes of carbon and nutrients via submarine groundwater discharge during the degradation process, and the type of organisms responsible for degrading this abundant material. This is a follow up on previous research I conducted assessing the role of groundwater fungi on the carbon cycle as part of my Masters research at Macquarie University.

Contact: a.perkie@yahoo.com