School of Biology

Miss Nikki Khanna
Postgraduate Student

General Information

I joined the Sediment Ecology Research Group in 2009 as part of my PhD. My thesis title is ‘The biological response of foraminifera to ocean acidification’, supervised by Professor David Paterson and Dr William Austin.  My project involves conducting manipulative experiments with benthic intertidal foraminifera to further elucidate the effects of exposure to acidified seawater on both foraminiferal populations and individual foraminiferal species. Foraminiferal samples for this project have been taken from the Eden and Ythan Estuaries with manipulative experiments being conducted in a physio-chemically stable seawater culturing facility at The Gatty Marine Laboratory, St Andrews. This project involves collaborative work with Dr Kate Darling at the University of Edinburgh and Dr Jasmin Godbold of Oceanlab, Aberdeen.

History

I am currently a third year PhD student at the University of St Andrews. Prior to this I gained my MSc Marine Micropalaeontology and BSc (Hons) Marine Biology from the University of Plymouth. My PhD has provided me with experience in collection and maintenance of live benthic intertidal foraminifera and the skills to manipulate seawater carbonate chemistry to investigate the effects of ocean acidification on foraminifera. My masters allowed me to gain extensive knowledge of marine micropalaeontological techniques, analysis and interpretation. My masters thesis ‘Foraminiferal response to late Eocene climate change in the Southern Ocean’ involved detailed taxonomic work of Eocene planktonic foraminifera and integration of stable isotope analysis.