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Cathrin Wittig
PhD Student

Research interests:

  • Marine biogeochemistry
  • Benthic macrofauna activity
  • Iron cycling
  • Arctic Fjords

 

Contact Info
Email: cathrin.wittig@ugent.be
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cathrin-Wittig
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4333-0272
Education
BSc, Geoscience, University of Kiel, DE (2018)
MSc, Marine Geoscience, University of Kiel, DE (2022)
Research Question
How do the activities of benthic macrofauna influence sedimentary iron cycling and the ice-to-ocean iron transport in Arctic fjord systems ?

Arctic fjords are known to modulate iron fluxes from glacial meltwaters to the ocean regulating marine primary productivity and thus atmospheric carbon dioxide removal. This ice-to-ocean iron transport is driven by the sedimentary recycling of particulate to dissolved iron up to the seafloor which is promoted by bioturbation (=biological reworking of sediments through the activities of benthic macrofauna). In my current project, I investigate the links between macrobenthic communities, their functional traits and respective bioturbation activity, external environmental conditions and seafloor iron cycling in Greenlandic fjord systems through a combination of field studies, experimental microcosm incubations and a modelling approach.

Supervisor
Prof. Ulrike Braeckman, Dr. Sebastiaan Van de Velde