Author Archives: Annamieke Van Den Heuvel

Calcification calculation by Delta alkalinity

Posted on by

Calcification calculation by Delta alkalinity


ALK units: 2.2 µmol g (SW)-1 or 2200 µmol Kg (SW)-1

SW Density units: 1.03 gL-1

MW of CaCO3 = 100 g mol-1

 

AT = [HCO3−]T + 2[CO32−]T + [B(OH)4−]T + [OH−]T − [H+]

 

Equation:

Delta CaCO3 µg L(SW)-1 =

Delta ALK µmol g-1 x Density of SW gL-1 x MW of CaCO3 g mol-1 x ½

(NB in bold underlined units remain after nominator denominator cancellation)

Clearly then need to Multiply by Volume of seawater (L) and normalise to time and some other factor such as surface area or weight of organism.

Dr Annamieke Van Den Heuvel

Posted on by
Sunset – Heron Island

Annamieke has been with the CRE lab for a number of years, first as a Honours student and then when undertaking her PhD. During her time as a CRE student, she researched the effects increased levels of exogenous nitrogen had on the relationship between coral and their symbiotic algae, Symbiodinium. These effects were examined on both a genetic and physiological level to develop an overall picture of a coral holobionts response to increasing levels of nitrogen.

Currently Annamieke is the Laboratory Manager for the Coral Reef Ecosystems Lab. She helps in keeping the lab running and responds to applications to work with the lab.

inside the mesocosm
A view into the Mesocosm ‘Mini-Reef’

In addition to her Lab manager role, Annamieke regularly travels to Heron Island to check and sample the mesocosm experiment currently underway. These mesocosems are representative ‘mini reefs’ comprised of several species of hard and soft coral, algae assemblages, various invertebrates and some herbivorous fish. The experiment, being run by A/Prof Sophie Dove, looks at the effects of climate change on coral reef ecosystems. The four treatments explores the effects of increased temperature and pCO2 on coral reef communities both in combination and separately.