Professor Susan Waldron
- Professor of Biogeochemistry (School of Geographical and Earth Sciences)
- Dean of Graduate Studies (Science and Engineering College Senior Management)
telephone: 01413302413
email: Susan.Waldron@glasgow.ac.uk
Research interests
For the most up-to-date information about Susan's research please visit her group web page: www.carbonlandscapes.org
My research interests include:
- Biogeochemical cycles, especially carbon and within aquatic systems;
- Applications of stable isotope analyses to biogeochemical cycling;
- Stoichiometry of natural systems;
- Continuous data-logging of water chemistry parameters.
My work is largely interdisciplinary and includes collaboration with scientists in ecology, botany, environmental science and hydrology.
In October 2007 I completed a NERC Advanced Fellowship: “Under what conditions do rivers acts as a net sink or source of atmospheric CO2 ?” (2002-2007). The focus of my Fellowship research wasto consider carbon cycling of major riverine species (gaseous, dissolved inorganic, dissolved organic and particulate organic) in a discharge-related context, using a relatively pristine catchment as a case study. Isotopic characterisation is a key analytical tool for my research.
I have maintained an interest in carbon cycling, firstly through environmental controls on biological production in methane, then as an energy flow in ecological studies, and now in budgetary constraints and process recycling in lotic and lentic systems. Previous research on the influence of peatland gas production on peatland hydrology, on field vegetation respiration studies and on freshwater invertebrate functional plasticity reflects the diversity of my interests in the carbon cycle. Past EU funding addressed the importance of fishery discards in seabird diet.
Current fully funded research includes the following: i) quantifying carbon fluxes from freshwater aquatic systems in the Amazon (as part of the NERC consortium grant, Amazonica). Shortly joining me to work on this project will be Dr. Yoko Ishida; ii) CLAD: Carbon Landascapes and Drainage - this will integrate stakeholders with academics to exchange knowledge on the loss of carbon from terrestrial landscapes to drainage system. Seeking funding for this network arose from my research programme to to consider the impact of the construction of Europe's largest on-shore windfarm, Whitelee, on carbon and nutrient export in the catchment drainage systems. The network facilitator is Dr. Simon Drew. Please contact me if you are interested in finding out more about either of these projects.
Selected publications
Speed, M., Tetzlaff, D., Soulsby, C., Hrachowitz, M. and Waldron, S. (2010) Isotopic and geochemical tracers reveal similarities in transit times in contrasting mesoscale catchments. Hydrological Processes, 24(9), pp. 1211-1224. (doi:10.1002/hyp.7593)
Bass, A. M., Waldron, S., Preston, T. and Adams, C. E. (2010) Net pelagic heterotrophy in mesotrophic and oligotrophic basins of a large, temperate lake. Hydrobiologia, 652(1), pp. 363-375. (doi:10.1007/s10750-010-0369-6)
Waldron, S., Flowers, H., Arlaud, C., Bryant, C. and McFarlane, S. (2009) The significance of organic carbon and nutrient export from peatland-dominated landscapes subject to disturbance, a stoichiometric perspective. Biogeosciences, 6(3), pp. 363-374. (doi:10.5194/bg-6-363-2009)
Dunn, S.M., Bacon, J.R., Soulsby, C., Tetzlaff, D., Stutter, M.I., Waldron, S. and Malcolm, A. (2008) Interpretation of homogeneity in δ18O signatures of stream water in a nested sub-catchment system in north-east Scotland. Hydrological Processes, 22(24), pp. 4767-4782. (doi:10.1002/hyp.7088)
Grants
Waldron S. 20011-2013. PI of WP2 for United Kingdom Lake Ecological Observatory: UKLEON, GU award of £144,730 (FEC: £179,572, NERC). Lead-Investigator: Dr. I. Jones (CEH Lancaster).
Waldron S. 20011-2015. Studentship award from the NERC/ACTF Programme of Analytical Science and Technology Studentships. ~ £65,000.
Waldron S. 2010-2013. £50,000 from SSE, £12.5K from ETP, and £37.5k from EPSRC to support a Ph.D. studentship on the resilience and adaptation of a carbon landscape to hosting a windfarm.
Waldron S. 2010-2014. Lead PI in WP1 Microclimates: Impact of Spatio-Climatic Variability on Environment-Hosted Land-based Renewables , £280,000 (FEC: £480,000).
Waldron S. 2009-2010. The mangrove carbon cycle influence of below-ground processes and managed cutting, £3,500 (FEC: £4,000, NE/G009589/1). Co-Investigators: Dr. M. Huxham (University of Napier, Lead PI, FEC: £50,663.64) and Dr. M. Mencuccini (University of Edinburgh)
Waldron S. 2009-2012. Lead PI in CLAD: Carbon Landscapes and Drainage, £182,917 (FEC: £228,647, NERC NE/G008833/1). Co-Investigators: Dr. I.Grieve and Prof. D. Gilvear (University of Stirling. Total NON-FEC award: £394,290
Waldron S. 2008-2013. AMAZONICA: Amazon Integrated carbon analysis - Riverine carbon fluxes, £429,766 (FEC: £537,208). Co-Investigators: Prof. M. Bird (James Cook University, Cairns, Australia)
Waldron S. 2007 - 2010 Landscape influences on patterns of water movement in a large river basin, £15,600 from £196,668 (The Leverhulme Trust). With PI Prof. C. Soulsby (Geography, University of Aberdeen) and co-PI's Dr. S. Dunn (Macaulay Institute), Dr. I.A. Malcolm (Fisheries Research Service) and Dr. D. Tetzlaff (Geography, University of Aberdeen).
Waldron S. 2004 - 2005 Study of Net Primary Productivity and Aquatic Algae Community Structure in Upland ‘Acidic’ Streams. (British Ecological Society £1500)
Waldron S. 2004-2005. Is sample preservation of water samples necessary for representative measurement of radiocarbon and stable carbon isotopic signatures of dissolved organic matter? £20250 in-kind support from NERC Scientific Services for radiocarbon analyses.
Waldron S. 2004-2006. When do small order river systems in a carbon-replete catchment act as a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide ? £3600 in-kind support from NERC Scientific Services for radiocarbon analyses.
Waldron S. 2002 - 2007. Under what conditions do rivers act as a net sink or source of atmospheric carbon dioxide? £260,700 (NERC NER/J/S/2001/00793
Waldron S. 2000 - 2004. Functional plasticity and relative interaction strength of invertebrate predators along a productivity gradient. £251,365 (NERC NER/A/S/1999/00085). With PI Dr. J. Lancaster (IERM, Edinburgh University).
Waldron S. 1999 - 2002 How does biogenic gas accumulation affect water flow through bog peat? £148,444 (NERC GR3/12451). With PI Dr. A. J. Baird (Geography, University of Sheffield)
Waldron S. 1999 - 2000 Temperature effects on the partitioning between respiratory pathways in plants . £35,087 (NERC GR9/04503). With PI Prof. H. Jones (Biological Sciences, University of Dundee)
Waldron S. 1998 What controls the deep peat carbon cycle? £8,200 from The Royal Society. With Prof. A.E. Fallick (SUERC).
Supervision
I currently co-supervise four Ph.D. students, all of whom are carrying out research relevant to the carbon cycle:
- Maricela Blair: Micro- and nanoplastics in wastewater treatment systems and receiving waters.
- Ying Zheng: How does the composition of dissolved organic matter in fluvial systems change seasonally, spatially and with changing discharge?
- Sarah Buckerfield (based at Stirling University): Understanding hydrological and land-use controls on microbial pollution & human health risks in the south-west China karst region.
- Rosanne MacDonald (based at CEH): Greenhouse gas release from UK reservoirs
Students completed:
- Dr. Martin Coleman (2017) Analysis of fluvial dissolved organic carbon using high-resolution UV-visible spectroscopy and raman spectroscopy.
- Dr. Roger Grau-Andres (2016) Drought and fuel structure controls on fire severity: effects on post-fire vegetation and soil carbon dynamics.
- Dr. Amira Elayouty (2016) Time and frequency domain statistical methods for high-frequency time series.
- Dr. Hazel Long (2016) New insight into the drivers, magnitude and sources of fluvial CO2 efflux in temperate and arctic catchments.
- Dr. Ben Smith (2015) Assessment of carbon and nutrient export from a peatland wind farm site.
- Dr. Antony Phin (2015, based at the University of Edinburgh) Quantifying impacts of windfarm development on peatland for aquatic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus exports.
- Dr. Domokos Gyore (2015, based at SUERC) Noble gases as tracers of injected CO2 in the Cranfield enhanced oil recovery field.
- Dr. Harriet Richardson (2014) The role of plant-soil interaction in peatland carbon cycling at a Scottish wind farm.
- Dr. Zhiwei Zhou (2013) The applications of InSAR time series analysis for monitoring long-term surface change in peatlands.
- Dr. Shailaja Vinji (2012, based at St. Andrew’s University) Land use and organic C exports from a peat catchment of the Halladale River in the Flow Country of Sutherland and Caithness, Scotland.
- Dr. Helen Murray (2012) Assessing the impact of wind-farm related disturbance on streamwater carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen dynamics: A case study of the Whitelee catchments.
- Dr. Firdaus Hamzah (2012) Statistical analysis of freshwater parameters monitored at different temporal resolutions.
- Dr. Adrian Bass (2008) Stable isotopic insight into pelagic carbon cycling in Loch Lomond: a large, temperate latitude lake.
- Dr. Stephanie Evers (2008) The role of forest stream corridor characteristics in influencing stream and riparian ecology.
Teaching
- Level 2 Geography: Current, past and future environment change
- Level 2: Swansea field trip
- Honours Option: Crustal fluids
- I am head of the departmental Graduate School.
Additional information
I am a member of the American Geophysical Union (Biogeochemistry), the American Society for Limnology and Oceanography, and the British Ecological Society.
