PhD: Assessing the impacts of aquaculture in the Philippines using palaeolimnology
Sir Clive Granger Building
University of Nottingham
Email Charlotte Briddon at University of Nottingham
I completed my undergraduate degree in Geology at The University of Southampton and have recently finished a Master’s degree in Geoscience Research at Keele University. For the latter I spent five months at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, investigating aquatic community response during the anthropocene at Tasik Chini, with specific focus on how the lake had been impacted by anthropogenic activities. This was completed by analysing sediment cores for fossil diatoms complemented with loss-on-ignition and pore water fluorescence techniques and contemporary diatom habitat analysis. This allowed for an in-depth investigation into how lake ecology had being affected by a host of anthropogenic activities such as oil palm plantations, mining and agriculture.
Research Project:
The Philippines has seen accelerated development in its aquaculture industry. My project focuses on lake ecosystem response to this increase in fish farming across several lakes on the island of Luzon. The project will involve analysis of sediment cores for both chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments and stable isotopes such as δ13C. Using these techniques my research aim is to assess how different intensities of aquaculture impact on lake ecosystem integrity and work towards identifying a sustainable level of aquaculture.
View a video I created in partnership with Mair Perkins Ltd, explaining my research.