David Barnes is a marine ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey, NERC and visiting lecturer at University of Cambridge.
He has been studying polar continental shelf benthos for the last 26 years with a particular focus in West Antarctica.
David’s main focus is on macro- and megabenthic responses to physical change, particularly with respect to growth, carbon capture, accumulation and immobilization. These measures allow estimation of ‘blue carbon’ ecosystem services, which may be one our planet’s most important negative feedbacks on climate change.
Within ChAOS, David will be involved in imaging benthos using a bespoke fibre optic camera lander, ‘Shelf Underwater Camera System’ (SUCS), and trying to collect samples of these animals using a video and light equipped minitrawl.
Examination of the trawled specimens enable estimation of carbon accumulated per year (e.g., in shells) and the SUCS images enable quantification of the density of those animals on the seabed – giving biological changes in carbon accumulation in time and space.
