In 2012 I finished my Masters in Marine Biology at Bangor University (UK). For my Master Thesis I investigated Rafting on Floating Macroalgae as a Dispersal Mechanism for Marine Organisms in Estuarine Conditions. Since that time, I have worked in many different areas with an emphasis on benthic taxonomy and sclerochronology. As part of my work in the sclerochronology department at Bangor University, I investigated the growth of Callista chione in comparison to the growth of Arctica islandica. Throughout my studies I worked as benthic taxonomist in the Fisheries & Conservation Science Group and various other jobs within Bangor University. My practical work experience mainly comprised the preparation and analysis of benthic species and the preparation of shells for sclerochronological analysis.

ARAMACC PhD project: Construction of long annually-resolved shell-based chronologies using Glycymeris spp from Iberia, NW France and the Mediterranean

For my ARAMACC PhD project at Université de Bretagne Occidentale (Brest, France) I will be building annually-resolved chronologies using shells of the bivalve Glycymeris glycymeris, aiming to extend the timeline back at least as far as 1800 AD. Shells from live animals and subfossil shells are currently being collected in France, Portugal and Croatia.

The shells will be crossdated using techniques derived from dendrochronology based on the inter-annual variations of annual growth increment width that reflect past variations of environmental conditions and climate. The chronologies will then be compared with instrumental measurements, shell-based chronologies built by other ARAMACC ESRs, and other natural archives for the same region in order to build up a detailed picture of the history of marine change in the NE Atlantic sector over at least the past two hundred years. I will also analyse micro-samples of the shell carbonate, in key periods of climatic interest, for their stable isotope composition and elemental concentrations.