Nils Cornelius

WHO AM I?
I came to Southampton from Hong Kong in 1997 and obtained my BSc in Marine Science from the University of Southampton in 2000. For my third year project I worked on the "Reproductive biology of the Antarctic ophiuroid Ophionotus victoriae", which consisted of an investigation of the possible reproductive periodicity of this species by histological methods (see Grange et al., in press).

WHAT DO I DO?
A break from oceanography followed with a short spell of work in coral reef surveys before I moved back to the UK. A strong interest in both the Antarctic and deep-sea biology led me to the DEEPSEAS Benthic Biology Group of the George Deacon Division in 2001 as a postgraduate research student. My PhD project is entitled "biodiversity and ecology of Antarctic deep-sea benthic foraminiferans" and is supervised by Dr Andrew Gooday and Prof. Paul Tyler.

For this project I took part in RV Polarstern cruise XIX/4 to the Weddell and Scotia Seas (Antarctica). This cruise formed part of the ANDEEP program (ANtarctic benthic DEEP-sea biodiversity).

WHY?
Because, although some data on the foraminiferans for the Weddell and Scotia Seas exists, these previous studies were done by geologists or paleoceanographers. Nobody has studied the entire benthic foraminiferal assemblage of this region, i.e. including those forms which have delicate organic or thinly agglutinated tests and that do not fossilize (allogromiids, saccamminids, komokiacean mudballs). In the deep sea, as in some other environments like glacial fjords, these soft-walled foraminiferans often constitute the majority of the meiofauna (>63 μm but <300 μm fauna). Therefore, this study will give new insights into the current abundances and diversities of foraminiferans in the deep ocean of the Antarctic. Before the cruise to Antarctica, I worked on fjord samples from Svalbard (Arctic) made available by Dr Gooday. This work will be incorporated into my thesis as a comparison between these two high latitude settings (roughly 65°S and 78°N).

Current Research interests:

• Taxonomy, diversity and ecology of agglutinated and soft-walled foraminiferans (i.e. allogromiids and saccamminids) in the deep ocean.
  
• The phylogenetic relationship between soft-bodied (allogromiid & saccamminid) and hard-shelled (calcareous & agglutinated) foraminifera.
  
• The role of foraminifera in deep-sea food webs, particularly soft-bodied forms.
  
• Distributional factors of foraminiferal species, e.g. food availability and quality, oxygen concentration, depth etc.
  
• Biodiversity gradients and patchiness in the deep ocean and the factors that influence it.
  

Publications:

Peer-reviewed:

Cornelius, N. & Gooday, A.J., 2004.‘Live’ (stained) deep-sea benthic foraminifera in the western Weddell Sea: trends in abundance, diversity and taxonomic composition in relation to water depth. Deep-sea Research II 51(14-16): 1571-1602.

Gooday, A.J., Holzmann, M., Guiard, J., Cornelius, N., Pawlowski, J., 2004. A new monothalamous foraminiferan from 1000-6300 m water depth in the Weddell Sea: morphological and molecular characterisation. Deep-sea Research II 51(14-16): 1603-1616.

Grange, L., Tyler, P.A., Peck, L.S., Cornelius, N. 2004. Long-term interannual cycles of the gametogenic ecology of the Antarctic brittle star Ophionotus victoriae. Marine Ecology Progress Series 278: 141-155.

Non-peer reviewed litereture:

Cornelius, N. & Gooday, A.J., 2003. ’Live’ (stained) benthic foraminifera in the deep Weddell Sea: trends in abundance, diversity and taxonomic composition in relation to water depth. In: Thatje, S. et al. (eds.), Interactions between the Magellan region and the Antarctic & Antarctic benthic deep-sea biodiversity, Extended Abstracts of the IBMANT/ANDEEP International Symposium and Workshop, Ushuaia, Argentina, p.44.

Pawlowski, J, Gooday, A.J. & Cornelius, N. (2003). Diversity of deep-sea benthic foraminifera-molecular and morphological aspects. Berichte zur Polar-und Meeresforschung 470, 51-56.

Cornelius, N. & Gooday, A.J. (2003). Biodiversity and ecology of deep-sea benthic foraminifera of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Newsletter of Micropaleontology, 68, p.13.

Cornelius, N. & Gooday, A.J. (submitted). ’Live’ (stained) benthic foraminifera in the deep Weddell Sea: trends in abundance, diversity and taxonomic composition in relation to water depth. Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung.