Rachel Jeffreys
Professor
Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences
The University of Liverpool
United Kingdom
Biography
I am a benthic ecologist/biogeochemist. I am particularly interested in deep-sea habitats (>200 m water depth). My primary research focus is food web ecology and organic matter biogeochemistry. My main research emphasis is on how organic matter quality and quantity structures benthic communities/food webs and in turn how these communities process and alter organic matter
Research Interest
Primary research questions include: What are the primary factors controlling the quality and quantity of organic matter reaching the seafloor? Can we detect climatic variation in the quantity/quality of organic matter reaching the seafloor? How does variation in the supply of organic matter to the seafloor and long-term changes in benthic community structure at the seafloor impact benthic trophodynamics? Do benthic fauna feed/assimilate on organic matter selectively? What are the impact of this for co-exisiting species and organic matter cycling? How is organic matter utilized and transformed by benthic communities? In order to address these research questions I use a variety of biochemical tools such as: stable carbon and nitrogen analyses, lipid and pigment biomarkers and compound-specific isotope analsyes.
Publications
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Larkin, K. E., Gooday, A. J., Woulds, C., Jeffreys, R. M., Schwartz, M., Cowie, G., . . . Pond, D. W. (2014). Uptake of algal carbon and the likely synthesis of an "essential" fatty acid by Uvigerina ex. gr. semiornata (Foraminifera) within the Pakistan margin oxygen minimum zone: evidence from fatty acid biomarker and C-13 tracer experiments. BIOGEOSCIENCES, 11(14), 3729-3738. doi:10.5194/bg-11-3729-2014
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Jeffreys, R. M., Fisher, E. H., Gooday, A. J., Larkin, K. E., Billett, D. S. M., & Wolff, G. A. (2015). The trophic and metabolic pathways of foraminifera in the Arabian Sea: evidence from cellular stable isotopes. BIOGEOSCIENCES, 12(6), 1781-1797. doi:10.5194/bg-12-1781-2015
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Brasier, M. J., Wiklund, H., Neal, L., Jeffreys, R., Linse, K., Ruhl, H., & Glover, A. G. (2016). DNA barcoding uncovers cryptic diversity in 50% of deep-sea Antarctic polychaetes. Royal Society Open Science, 3(11). doi:10.1098/rsos.160432
