Hello, my name is Alexander and this year I will be starting a QUADRAT studentship at QUB. My project involves studying the methylotrophs from the unusual Movile Cave in Romania. The Movile cave ecosystem has been sealed from the surface for 5.5 million years and is dependent on the products of chemosynthesis not photosynthesis. I was drawn to the project because of its use of synthetic communities and metagenomics, tools I became interested in as an undergraduate however I’m also fascinated by Movile Cave itself at least in part owing to my hobby of caving. However the bounds of this project don’t lie completely within the confines of Movile Cave, methane is a potent greenhouse gas, understanding the organisms that metabolise it may help us reduce its impact on the earth’s climate in the future. After a year out of academia, I can’t wait to get stuck in, just not stuck in Movile Cave.
QUADRAT Sponsors and Partners
RSPB NI
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar & Marine Research
DAERA
Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR)
Bioversity International
Loughs Agency
Marine Scotland
Causeway, Coast & Glens Heritage Trust
Mourne Heritage Trust
Carl Zeiss Microscopy Ltd
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen Harbour Board
The Crown Estate
Pacific Seafoods Group
Historic Environment Scotland
Ulster Farmers’ Union
The R&A
National Biodiversity Data Centre Ireland
National Trust NI
Tilhill Forestry
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS)
3DEO
Arup
Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute
NOAA Fisheries
NI Water
Forest Research Scotland
Shetland Amenity Trust
Belfast City Council
Geological Survey NI
Scottish water
NFU Scotland
Forestry and Land Scotland
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
James Hutton Institute
Northern Ireland Environment Agency
Ulster Wildlife
Northern Ireland Environment Link
BGS
SAERI
Botanaeco
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Wildbyte Technologies
JNCC
Siskin Asset Management
Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research
Syngenta
SEPA
Environment Agency
National Trust for Scotland
National Trust
CB Dennis Trust
RSPB Scotland
Ireland Brownfield Network
SAERI Falklands Limited