Barry Thornton

Biography

Barry has been manager of the Light Stable Isotopes Laboratory in the Analytical Group since 2006. After originally studying Biochemistry at Bangor he gained his PhD at Aberdeen University, being primarily based at the Institute during this period. He has a strong background in plant physiology with extensive experience of the application of stable isotopes in a wide variety of research contexts, in particular looking at C and N fluxes in plant-soil ecosystems.

Research Interest

Barry continues to have an interest in C and N fluxes in the plant-soil and other ecosystems. He has utilised compound specific stable isotope techniques to trace the flow of C from various sources into microbial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Recently he determined the spatial distribution of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the topsoil of Scotland and applied linear modelling to assess the extent to which land use and climate act as drivers of the observed distributions. He is currently applying Rayleigh equations to the pattern of enrichment of carbon isotopes which occurs going down soil profiles at the national scale to develop understanding of soil carbon decomposition rates.