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                       Charlotte Robinson

 

                                                  PhD candidate 

                                                  CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship Top-Up Scholarship Student

                                                  email: charlotte.robinson@student.uts.edu.au

                                                            charlotte.mary.robinson@gmail.com

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Background

I’m a phytoplankton ecologist studying the distribution of marine microbes and their carbon fixation. After completing an honours research project investigating the success of specialized phytoplankton communities living deep in the water column, I decided to pursue the areas of photobiology and biological oceanography to learn more about phytoplankton in optical niches of marine waters.

 

My project combines skills in bio-optics, chlorophyll-a fluorescence, radio-isotope and stable isotope analysis (14C, 13C, 15N), HPLC pigment analysis and flow cytometry to better understand the physiology underlying acclimation of phytoplankton to changes in the spectral quantity and quality of light.

 

As a member of the Aquatic Processes Group and Coastal Oceanography and Algal reSearch Team my project contributes to our understanding of the resource limitations on aquatic photosynthesis and carbon cycling, particularly in coastal systems. This project is also supported by a top-up scholarship from the CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship and will contribute to the CSIRO Land and Water group and the CSIRO Coastal Carbon Cluster modelling of marine primary productivity.

 

 

Publications

Robinson CM, Suggett DJ, Cherukuru N, Ralph PJ & Doblin MA 2014, 'Performance of Fast Repetition Rate fluorometry based estimates of primary productivity in coastal waters', Jounal of Marine Sciences, vol. 139, pp. 299-310, doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.07.016

Hassler CS, Norman L, Nichols CA, Clementson LA, Robinson CM, Schoemann V, Watson RJ & Doblin MA 2014, 'Iron associated with exopolymeric susbstances is highly bioavailable to oceanic phytoplankton', Marine Chemistry, doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2014.10.002

 

 

Research

PhD Project: Optical niche partitioning of phytoplankton and implications for carbon fixation.

Project Objectives:

This project investigates the fate of light in optically complex coastal waters and the physiological implications of bio-optical niche partitioning for carbon cycling by phytoplankton. The project will address the following objectives:

  • To develop fluorometric estimates of primary production for fast and reliable estimates of primary production in coastal waters.

  • To understand the cell physiology and photobiology underlying photoacclimation and implications for carbon fixation.

  • To improve the modelling of light and net primary productivity in optically complex coastal waters using bio-optical data collected from differing optical niches.

 

Honours project: Correcting oceanographic estimates of chlorophyll-a: why do coastal phytoplankton form sub-surface chlorophyll maxima?

Project Objectives:

  • To determine why cells remain in the sub-surface chlorophyll maxima (SCM).

  • To determine if the cells from a SCM are sensitive to photoinhibition if mixed to the surface.

  • To determine whether cells in the SCM are acclimated to blue-shifted light as experienced at depth.

  • To determine whether the phytoplankton community composition at the SCM changes with time and depth.

 

Undergraduate Research Project: Influence of temperature stress on intertidal organisms.

Project Objectives:

  • To understand the influence of increasing temperature on the physiology of intertidal species, particularly macroalgae.

  • To investigate the physiological response and recruitment success of intertidal macroalgae, Hormosira banksii to increased temperature.

 

 

 

Skills and Expertise

  • Active chlorophyll-a fluorometry: Pulse amplitude modulated fluorometry (Walz), Fast Repetition Rate fluorometery (Chelsea/Soliense)

  • Radioactive isotope (14C) and stable isotope (13C/15N) assays

  • High performance liquid chromatography: phytoplankton pigment quantification

  • Flow cytometry

  • Microalgal culturing

  • Ocean Optics instruments: Ramses TRIOS radiometers, Wetlabs AC-S, Hobilabs BB-9

  • Inherent Optical Properties analysis: Phytoplankton/Non-algal particles/CDOM Absorption

 

Presentations

Robinson CM, Suggett DJ, Kolber Z, Hughes D, Ralph PJ, Cherukuru N & Doblin MA 'Using multi-colour fast repetition rate fluorometry to discriminate the taxon specific photoacclimation strategies of mixed phytoplankton communities' oral presentation at the Ocean Optics OOXXII Conference, Portland Maine, US, October 2014

Robinson CM, Ralph PJ, Cherukuru N & Doblin MA, 'Phytoplankton responses to nutrient resupply in northern Australia' oral presentation at the Australasian Society for Phycology and Aquatic Botany conference, Sydney, Australia, December 2013

Robinson CM, Suggett DJ, Cherukru N, Ralph P & Doblin MA "Fluorometric estimated of primary prodcution using Fast Repetition Rate fluorometry in coastal and turbid marine waters' poster presentation at the 45th International Liege Colloquium "Primary production in the ocean: from the synoptic to the global scale", Liege Belgium, May 2013

Robinson CM, Cherukuru N, Davies P, Clementson L, Ralph PJ & Doblin MA 'Phytoplankton light absorption properties, light utilisation and carbon fixation in a turbid estuarine environment', oral presentation at the Australian Marine Sciences Association conference "Marine Extremes and everything in between", Hobart Tasmania, Australia, June 2012

 

Scholarships & Awards

2014 Ocean Optics OOXXII Student Travel Award

2013 UTS Postgraduate Research Travel Fund Award

2013 Liege Colloquium Student Travel Award

2012 CSIRO Oceans and Atmospheres Flagship PhD Top-Up Scholarship

2012 Australian Postgraduate Award

2011 Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3) Honours Scholarship

 

Professional

Member Australian Marine Sciences Association (AMSA)

Member Australasian Society of Phycology and Botany (ASPAB)

Member of American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Student Representative on the School of the Environment (UTS) Board

Student Representative on the Graduate Research School (UTS) Board and Research & Research Training Committee

 

Teaching Areas

The Biosphere

Biocomplexity

Experiment Design and Sampling

Topics in Marine Sciences

Charlotte investigates the photophysiological response of phytoplankton species using a Fast Repetition Rate (chlorophyll-a) fluorometer.

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