Claire Evans	ROYAL NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR SEA RESEARCH   Postal address: P.O. Box 59, NL-1790 AB Den Burg (Texel) The Netherlands   Visiting address: Landsdiep 4 NL-1797 SZ ’t Horntje (Texel) The Netherlands   Phone: (+31) (0)222-369300 Fax: (+31) (0)222-319674
E-mail: Claire.Evans@nioz.nl   Phone: (+31) (0)222-369507
Academic History
2010 - present  Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Royal NIOZ on VWO project ‘Viral impact on microbes in the coastal waters of the Antarctic Peninsular and its ecological implications’.  2006 - 2009 Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Royal NIOZ on VWO project ‘The significance of viruses for polar marine ecosystem functioning’.  2004-2006 Postdoctoral Research Associate at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) on NERC project 'Life after lysis-virus driven biogeochemistry'. The main aim of this research is to determine the influence of viruses on the flow of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous through marine systems. 2000-2004 PhD studentship at the University of East Anglia and the Marine Biological Association (UK). Thesis title, ‘The impact of marine viruses on the production of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and related compounds’. 1999-2000 MSc in Applied Marine Science at the University of Plymouth in collaboration with the Marine Biological Association and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). Dissertation title, ‘The relative importance of grazing and viral induced losses on phytoplankton bloom dynamics’. ·         1996-1999 BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences at Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge (UK).
Current Projects
Viral impact on microbes in the coastal waters of the Antarctic Peninsular and its ecological implications VIRANT is a project funded within the NWO's Nederlands AntArctisch Programma (NAAP) and represents a collaboration between scientists from the Department of Biological Oceanography and Dr D W Pond and Prof. A Clarke of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The project aims to establish the impact of viruses on the microbial component of the coastal waters around the Antarctic Peninsular and its ecological implications. This will be achieved via a field campaign conducted out of the BAS Research Station Rothera, situated on Adelaide Island. The NIOZ-lead study will join in with BAS’s long term monitoring program, the Rothera Oceanographic and Biological Time Series (RaTS), which centers on making high frequency biological and chemical measurements at a small embayment called Ryder Bay. Sampling commenced in November 2010 and will continue until late March 2011, thus observing austral spring through to autumn. A comprehensive sampling program is in progress to examine abundance, growth and mortality by both viral lysis and grazing of the bacterioplankton and phytoplankton. In concert, the dynamics of fatty acids and intact polar lipids will be examined in combination with data from in situ and laboratory based experiments to determine the significance of viral lysis to the biological cycling of these trophodynamically important compounds.
Publication List
Evans, C., Thomson P. G., Davidson, A. T., van den Enden R., Witte, H. and Brussaard C. P. D. (In Press) Potential implications of climate change-induced shifts in microbial distribution for carbon cycling in the Australian Southern Ocean. Deep Sea Research II.   Evans, C., Pearce, I., and Brussaard C. P. D. (2009) Viral-mediated lysis of microbes and carbon release in the sub-Antarctic and Polar Frontal zones of the Australian Southern Ocean. Environmental Microbiology. 11(11): 2924-2934 Doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.05050.x Evans, C., Pond, D. W. and Wilson, W. H. (2009) Changes in Emiliania huxleyi fatty acid profiles during viral infection with E. huxleyi virus 86: physiological and ecological implications. Aquatic Microbial Ecology. 55: 219-228. Evans, C. and Wilson, W. H. (2008) Preferential grazing of Oxyrrhis marina on virus-infected Emiliania huxleyi. Limnology and Oceanography. 53(5): 2035-2040. Llewellyn, C. A., Evans, C., Airs, R. A. Cook, I., Bale, N. and Wilson W. H. (2007) The response of carotenoids and chlorophylls during virus infection of Emiliania huxleyi (Prymnesiophyceae). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 344 (1):101-112. Evans, C., Kadner, S. V., Darroch, L. D. Wilson, W. H.  Liss, P. S. and Malin, G. (2007) The relative significance of viral lysis and microzooplankton grazing as pathways of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) cleavage: An Emiliania huxleyi culture study. Limnology and Oceanography. 52 (3):1036-1045. Steinke, M., Evans, C., Lee G. A. and Malin G. (2007) Substrate kinetics of DMSP-lyases in axenic cultures and mesocosm populations of Emiliania huxleyi. Aquatic Sciences. 69: 352-359 Evans, C., Malin, G., Wilson, W. H. and Liss. P. S. (2006) Infectious titres of Emiliania huxleyi virus 86 are reduced by exposure to millimolar dimethyl sulfide and acrylic acid. Limnology and Oceanography. 51: 2468-2471. Evans, C., Malin, G., Mills, G. P. and Wilson, W. H. (2006) Viral infection of Emiliania huxleyi (Prymnesiophyceae) lads to elevated production of reactive oxygen species. Journal of Phycology. 42 (5):2468-2471. Evans, C. (2005) The influence of marine viruses on the production of dimethyl sulphide and related compounds from Emiliania huxleyi. PhD thesis, University of East Anglia. Evans, C., Archer, S. D., Jacquet, S. and Wilson, W. H. (2003) Direct estimates of the contribution of viral lysis and microzooplankton grazing to the decline of a Micromonas spp. population. Aquatic Microbial Ecology. 30:207-219.