I am a marine biologist with a passion for microorganisms. I work at the interdisciplinary cross over between marine geology and microbiology investigating the biology and ecology of foraminifera, fossil forming microbial protists.
Brief Biography
Divisional/Faculty/University Contribution
Other Academic Activities
My research vision is to understand the marine microbial response to environmental change, and how this response will impact ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical cycling. Changes in these processes will have impact at global scales on habitat suitability for species and as a human resource.
I am currently studying the trophic interactions of planktonic marine protists called foraminifera. These foraminifera precipitate a shell of calcium carbonate (chalk). My samples come from polar and sub-polar seas (Baffin Bay, Arctic Ocean and the North Pacific). The reasons for studying them are twofold.
Firstly, environmental parameters control the chemical makeup of the foraminiferal shell enabling us, on analysis of fossil foraminifera, to interpret environmental conditions of the past, such as temperature, ocean pH, and productivity. However, biology also influences shell chemistry. My interests lie in understanding these biological factors that need to be accounted for when reconstructing past conditions.
Secondly, the climate of the Arctic is changing much more rapidly than other parts of the planet. There is an urgency to understand how organisms here are adapting and surviving, and how they will be impacted by loss of ice cover, warming temperatures and shifting ocean pH. Like corals, foraminifera are susceptible to ocean acidification, and yet we know very little of their calcifying mechanisms and how they might adapt to lower pH.
Disentangling the palaeoproxy challenge for the Humboldt Current System and beyond
PI: Dr Clare Bird
Funded by: Natural Environment Research Council
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Understanding ecological dependencies in planktonic foraminifera: A role for the microbiome under climate change
PI: Dr Clare Bird
Funded by: The Carnegie Trust
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Article
Heterotrophic Foraminifera Capable of Inorganic Nitrogen Assimilation
Bird C, LeKieffre C, Jauffrais T, Meibom A, Geslin E, Filipsson HL, Maire O, Fehrenbacher JS & Russell AD (2020) Heterotrophic Foraminifera Capable of Inorganic Nitrogen Assimilation. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, Art. No.: 604979. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.604979
Article
Bird C, Schweizer M, Roberts A, Austin WEN, Knudsen KL, Evans KM, Filipsson HL, Sayer MDJ, Geslin E & Darling KF (2020) The genetic diversity, morphology, biogeography, and taxonomic designations of Ammonia (Foraminifera) in the Northeast Atlantic. Marine Micropaleontology, 155, Art. No.: 101726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2019.02.001
Article
Salonen IS, Chronopoulou P, Bird C, Reichart G & Koho KA (2019) Enrichment of intracellular sulphur cycle -associated bacteria in intertidal benthic foraminifera revealed by 16S and aprA gene analysis. Scientific Reports, 9, Art. No.: 11692. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48166-5
Article
Metabarcoding Insights Into the Trophic Behavior and Identity of Intertidal Benthic Foraminifera
Chronopoulou P, Salonen I, Bird C, Reichart G & Koho KA (2019) Metabarcoding Insights Into the Trophic Behavior and Identity of Intertidal Benthic Foraminifera. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10, Art. No.: 1169. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01169
Article
Groeneveld J, Filipsson HL, Austin WEN, Darling K, McCarthy D, Krupinski NBQ, Bird C & Schweizer M (2018) Assessing proxy signatures of temperature, salinity, and hypoxia in the Baltic Sea through foraminifera-based geochemistry and faunal assemblages. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 37 (2), pp. 403-429. https://doi.org/10.5194/jm-37-403-2018
Article
Bird C, Darling KF, Russell AD, Fehrenbacher JS, Davis CV, Free A & Ngwenya BT (2018) 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding and TEM reveals different ecological strategies within the genus Neogloboquadrina (planktonic foraminifer). PLoS ONE, 13 (1), Art. No.: e0191653. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191653
Article
Bird C, Darling K, Russell A, Davis C, Jennifer F, Free A, Wyman M & Ngwenya B (2017) Cyanobacterial endobionts within a major marine planktonic calcifier (Globigerina bulloides, Foraminifera) revealed by 16S rRNA metabarcoding. Biogeosciences, 14, pp. 901-920. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-901-2017
Article
Darling KF, Schweizer M, Luise Knudsen K, Evans KM, Bird C, Roberts A, Filipsson HL, Kim J, Gudmundsson G, Wade CM, Sayer MDJ & Austin WEN (2016) The genetic diversity, phylogeography and morphology of Elphidiidae (Foraminifera) in the Northeast Atlantic. Marine Micropaleontology, 129, pp. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2016.09.001
Article
Oliver D, Bird C, Burd E & Wyman M (2016) Quantitative PCR Profiling of Escherichia coli in Livestock Feces Reveals Increased Population Resilience Relative to Culturable Counts under Temperature Extremes. Environmental Science and Technology, 50 (17), pp. 9497-9505. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b02657
Article
Roberts A, Austin W, Evans K, Bird C, Schweizer M & Darling K (2016) A new integrated approach to taxonomy: The fusion of molecular and morphological systematics with type material in benthic foraminifera. PLoS ONE, 11 (7), Art. No.: e0158754. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158754
Article
Wyman M, Hodgson S & Bird C (2013) Denitrifying alphaproteobacteria from the Arabian Sea that express nosZ, the gene encoding nitrous oxide reductase, in oxic and suboxic waters. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 79 (8), pp. 2670-2681. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.03705-12
Article
Bird C & Wyman M (2013) Transcriptionally active heterotrophic diazotrophs are widespread in the upper water column of the Arabian Sea. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 84 (1), pp. 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1111/1574-6941.12049
Article
Wyman M & Bird C (2007) Lack of Control of Nitrite Assimilation by Ammonium in an Oceanic Picocyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. Strain WH 8103. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73 (9), pp. 3028-3033. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02606-06
Article
Bird C, Martinez Martinez J, O'Donnell AG & Wyman M (2005) Spatial distribution and transcriptional activity of an uncultured clade of planktonic diazotrophic γ-proteobacteria in the Arabian Sea. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71 (4), pp. 2079-2085. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.71.4.2079-2085.2005
Article
Bird C & Wyman M (2003) Nitrate/Nitrite Assimilation System of the Marine Picoplanktonic Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Strain WH 8103: Effect of Nitrogen Source and Availability on Gene Expression. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 69 (12), pp. 7009-7018. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.69.12.7009-7018.2003