Dr Julien Plancq
- Affiliate (School of Geographical & Earth Sciences)
email: Julien.Plancq@glasgow.ac.uk
University of Glasgow, Geographical and Earth Sciences, Lilybank Gardens, Gregory Bldg Glasgow, Glasgow, UK G12 8QQ
Research interests
I am interested in the relationship between coccolithophores (haptophytes secreting calcium carbonate plates around their cell) and their environment, notably through paleoceanographic/paleoclimatic reconstructions. I thus use a multi-proxy / multi-disciplinary approach (micropaleontology, organic geochemistry, sedimentology, biostratigraphy, etc.) in Mesozoic and Cenozoic marine sediments. My studies aim to quantify nannofossil assemblages in order to better characterize the ecological preferences of these algae during the past and to understand the global evolutionary patterns that can be linked to environmental changes. In parallel, I use lipid biomarkers as paleoceanographic proxies. Lipid biomarkers can be used as indicators of the presence of an organism and metabolic processes (primary production), but they may also be used as proxies for environmental parameters (temperature, pH, pCO2, etc.).
In addition, I intend to better constrain the use of alkenones as paleoenvironmental proxies. My PhD work aimed to identify the marine coccolithophore species responsible for the production of alkenones during the Cenozoic, in order to better constrain the use of these long-chain unsaturated ketones in sea-surface temperature and pCO2 reconstructions. I am now studying alkenone composition and alkenone producers in Canadian lakes in order to develop a temperature calibration for paleoclimate reconstructions in continental settings.
Grants
July 2017: SAGES Small Grants Scheme
Travel Scholarship from the SAGES (Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society) to attend the Goldschmidt conference, Paris (France) - £750.
Apr. 2016: Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Grant
Laboratory visit (2 weeks) at Tusukuba University (Japan) – £2500.
May-Jun. 2013: EAOG (European Association of Organic Geochemists) Travel Scholarship
Short postdoctoral stay at ICTA (Barcelona, Spain) - 2400€.
Nov. 2011: Travel Scholarship from the Federative Research Institute (IFR41) of the University of Lyon (France)
Laboratory visit (2 weeks) at the Department of Earth Sciences of Uppsala (Sweden) - 500€.
Jul. 2011: ECORD (European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling) Scholarship
Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology (Italy) - 1200€.
Sep. 2010: Travel Scholarship from the French Ministry of Education and Research
Molecular Organic Biogeochemistry course (NIOZ, Texel, The Netherlands) - 500€.
Sep. 2009-Sep.2012: PhD Scholarship (3 years) from the French Ministry of Education and Research - 15600€/year.
Supervision
Nov. 2017-Apr. 2018: Supervision of Cameron Floyd (L4 student).
Project: “Can Climate Change Effect Algae Growth and Alleviate Impact on Aquaculture?”.
May-June 2017: Supervision of Marjorie Fis (1st year MSc Research in Earth Sciences).
Project: “Developing the temperature proxy based on diols in the Bardowie Lake (UK)”.
Jan. 2017-Jan. 2018: Co-supervision of Natasha Kumar (MSc Research in Earth Sciences).
Project: “Climate and environmental change over the past 3000 years in a High Arctic polynya – a biomarker approach”.
Nov. 2016-Apr. 2017: Supervision of Cameron Bland (L4 student).
Project: “Late Holocene climatic events in the eastern Red Sea coast (Saudi Arabia): insights from biomarkers”.
Nov. 2015-Apr. 2016: Supervision of Natasha Kumar (L4 student, Glasgow).
Project: “Late Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction on the eastern Red Sea coast (Saudi Arabia)”.
Nov. 2015-Apr. 2016: Supervision of Natasha Kumar (L4 student).
Project: “Developing a proxy for Paleosalinity”.
Feb.-Apr. 2013: Co-supervision of Julie LATTAUD (1st year of Master’s degree).
Project: “Application of the Long-chain Diol Index in Pliocene sediments (Punta Piccola, Sicily)”.
Jan.-Feb. 2012: Co-supervision of Théophile GREBERT (3rd year of Bachelor’s degree).
Project: “Lipid biosignature in the sedimentary record of the Eocene-Oligocene transition”.
Teaching
Feb.-June 2018: Lectures in Climate change (Earth Sciences L1), Palaeobiology (Earth Sciences L2) and Palaeoclimatology (Earth Sciences L3).
Jan. 2014-Feb. 2015: Tutorials in Global Tectonics (lectures, tutorials and practical classes) and paleontology/petrography (practical classes) for undergraduate students (2nd years of Bachelor’s degree).
Sep. 2012-Aug. 2013: Tutorials in cartography (practical classes and field trip) and mineralogy/petrography (lectures, practical classes and field trips) for undergraduate students (2nd and 3rd years of Bachelor’s degree).
Sep. 2007-Aug. 2012: Tutorials in geology, evolution and paleontology for undergraduate students (1st and 3rd years of Bachelor’s degree).