Dr Rebecca Parker

I am a biogeochemist and palaeoceanogapher. My research interests lie in applying biogeochemistry, chronology, sediment cores and microfossils to investigate how the cryosphere and oceans interact and respond to past changes in climate and carbon cycling to better understand future warming scenarios. I have a particular interest in the palaeoenvironments of the high latitudes, having worked in the marine systems around Antarctica, Patagonia and Newfoundland. My research spans various timescales, from the last warm period (the Pliocene, ~3 million years ago) to modern. 

Most recently, I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on the Convex Seascape Survey project. This project is a pioneering global research project with the goal to quantify and understand blue carbon stored in coastal seafloor sediments. Results will provide insight on how to manage the ocean sustainably and maximise its carbon storage capabilities. Specifically, I use sedimentary and environmental DNA analyses alongside robust chronology on marine sediment cores to trace the origins of blue carbon to seafloor sediments. I investigate how gradients of natural and anthropogenic disturbance affect the source and quantity of carbon stored in these sediments. In this project on work on timescales of up to ~500 years.