Mr Mike Vreeken
Expertise
I am an organic geochemist working on the biogeochemistry of (tropical) peatlands. I study the interactions between organic matter composition, microbial commuties and lipid signatures in these pivotal global carbon stores.
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Research interests
Background
I graduated from Utrecht University, the Netherlands, in 2020 with a MSc in Earth Science focussing on Petroleum Geology, Organic Geochemistry and Paleoclimatology. I spent the 2nd year of the MSc working with Dr Ir Francien Peterse on two projects. The first project utilized branched GDGTs to separate precipitation and temperature signals in the western Chinese Loess Plateau during the last deglaciation. The second project was exploring an array of biomarkers found in a sediment trap suspended in Lake Chala, East Africa. The objective was to find potential environmental drivers in their occurrence during seasonal changes over a period of 4 years.
I joined the Organic Geochemistry Unit (OGU) in October 2021 as a Research Technician working with Dr David Naafs. I processed samples from sediments to data using several extraction techniques and utilizing the broad range of analytical instruments the OGU and NEIF has to offer.
In October 2022, I started my PhD in the OGU as part of the NERC GW4+ Doctoral Training Program. My project aims to understand the biogeochemistry of peatlands using biomarker, under the supervision of Prof Rich Pancost (Earth Sciences, University of Bristol), Prof Angela Gallego-Sala (Geography, University of Exeter), Dr Casey Bryce (Earth Sciences, University of Bristol) and Dr David Naafs (Chemistry, University of Bristol).
Research
Peatlands only cover 4% of the worlds surface but hold 550 gigatonnes of carbon, which is twice the carbon stored in the biomass of forests. Understanding the carbon balance in these systems is of vital importance so we can predict effects of global warming and manage wetlands sustainably. However, the peatland carbon store has complex interactions with the biosphere. My research focusses on vegetation/bacterial biomarkers and their isotopic signatures, which can be used to describe the microbial community and organic matter composition in the peat environment. We use these tools to characterize the formation and preferential degradation of peats, which microbes/processes are involved in the degradation, and how these interactions changed over time.