Dr. Marcel T. J. van der Meer         E-mail: Marcel.van.der.Meer@nioz.nl   Direct Phone: (+31) (0)222-369568

ROYAL NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR SEA RESEARCH (NIOZ)   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 Room: C10-07   Phone (reception): (+31) (0)222-369300 Fax: (+31) (0)222-319674

 

 

General
May 2009 - present	Post-doc NIOZ
February 2006 - February 2009	Post-doc NIOZ
January 2005 - April 2005	Post-doc NIOZ
August 2001 - August 2004	Post-doc Montana State University
April 1997 - April 2001	PhD: student NIOZ
Research Interests
Developing and applying new proxies based on organic molecules and their stable carbon, hydrogen and/or nitrogen isotope ratios for paleoceanographical and paleoclimatological reconstructions.   Microbial ecology; linking “genotypes” with “phenotypes” in situ through the use of organism specific organic compounds and their stable carbon, hydrogen and/or nitrogen isotope ratios. - Isolating and cultivating (relevant) organisms and studying their lipid content and isotope fractionation patterns in vitro. - Studying organic compounds and stable isotopic fractionation in natural ecosystems and relating this to culture studies and molecular information. - Labeling experiments using stable isotopes to study organism and ecosystem functioning.
Current  Project
Developing new methods to estimate paleosalinity; understanding the past as key to future climate change.
Testing climate models for future climate change critically depend on our ability to quantitatively reconstruct past climate. Paleosalinity is the single most important oceanographic parameter which currently can still not be accurately quantified from sedimentary records. To date, the most promising tool to estimate paleosalinity variations combines reconstructions of paleotemperature and foraminiferal δ18O. Foraminiferal δ18O varies as a function of temperature and ambient seawater δ18O which is directly coupled to seawater salinity. The close relation between the stable hydrogen isotope 2H (deuterium, D) and δ18O in precipitation and seawater (so-called meteoric water line) enables an alternative approach to deconvolve palaeosalinity. Deuterium is incorporated into marine organic matter during photosynthesis and can be extracted from seafloor sediments. Thus, δD analyses on marine organic matter could provide an alternative proxy for seawater palaeosalinity. Recently, we found a strong correlation between salinity and the hydrogen isotopic fractionation of C37 alkenones versus water in cultures of Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica, although growth rate also had some impact. This suggest that δD of alkenones can be used to reconstruct past salinities if growth rate and δDwater can be constrained.             We analyzed the hydrogen isotopic composition of C37 alkenones in the S5 sapropel from an Aegean Sea core. Our δD record of C37 alkenones, produced by haptophyte algae, from the Eastern Mediterranean shows a large and abrupt shift towards more negative values at the onset of sapropel deposition. This change runs parallel with that of the δ18O of the carbonate tests of surface dwelling foraminifera suggesting that δD of C37 alkenones accurately record the large decrease in sea surface salinity during freshwater flooding. Based on the δD of the water, calculated  from the δ18O of foraminifera and Uk’37 sea surface temperatures, and the δD of C37 alkenones we can estimate that the salinity shift at the onset of S5 sapropel deposition was approximately 6, from ~39 to ~33.              We also applied this newly developed proxy in a core covering the last 3000 yrs of the Black Sea. The δD record of C37 alkenones produced by haptophyte algae in combination with organic walled dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) distributions from the end of Unit II to the present in the Black Sea indicates relatively high salinities at the end of Unit II and the TS and lower salinities during Unit I with a slow decrease in salinity with decreasing depth. The observed decrease suggests that the occurrence of E. huxleyi in the Black Sea at the onset of Unit I cannot be explained by an increase in salinity from below to above 11. Assuming a constant growth rate for the alkenone producing haptophytes and a constant δDwater vs. salinity relationship for the last 3000 yrs, sea surface salinities (SSS) of approximately 30 can be estimated for the Black Sea during deposition of Unit II and the TS. During deposition of Unit I SSS can be estimated to have decreased from approximately 25 at the bottom of Unit I to approximately 19 at the top. These results could also explain the absence of isorenieratene in the upper part of Unit II sediments, and thus the absence of photic zone euxinia during its deposition, due to the lack of stratification and fit with the transition from a warm and dry climate to a cold and wet climate right at that time.             We are currently examining the hydrogen isotopic fractionation patterns of other algae known to produce specific biomarkers, i.e. long-chain diols from Proboscia diatoms and dinosterol from dinoflagellates. The results will reveal if, besides alkenones, other algal biomarkers can also be used to trace past fluctuations in salinity. Figure 1. Stratigraphic record of sapropel S5 of (A) TOC in %, (B) Uk’37 temperature in °C, (C) δ18O of foram tests in ‰ vs. VSMOW, (D) calculated δD of the water, (E) δD of the alkenones in ‰ vs. VSMOW and (F) estimated salinities.   Funding: NWO Innovational Research Incentives Scheme VIDI 2009   Duration: 2010-2015
Publications
Biton, E., Gildor, H., Trommer, G., Siccha, M., Kucera, M., van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S. (2010) Sensitivity of Red Sea circulation to monsoonal variability during the Holocene: An integrated data and modelling study. Paleoceanography 25, PA4209, doi:10.1029/2009PA001876.   Van der Meer M.T.J., Klatt, C.G., Wood, J., Bryant, D.A., Bateson, M.M., Lammerts, L., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Madigan M.T., Ward. D.M. (2010) Cultivation and genomic, nutritional and  lipid biomarker characterization of Roseiflexus strains closely related to predominant in situ populations inhabiting Yellowstone hot spring microbial mats. Journal of Bacteriology 192, 3033-3042.   Peterse, F., van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Jia, G., Ossebaar, J., Blokker, J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2009). Assessment of soil n-alkane δD and branched tetraether membrane lipid distributions as tools for paleoelevation reconstruction. Biogeosciences 6, 2799-2807.   Trommer, G., Siccha, M., van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Schulz, H., Hemleben, C., Kucera, M. (2009) The distribution of tetraether membrane lipids in surface sediments from the Red Sea suggests an endemic population of marine Crenarchaeota. Org. Geochem. 40, 724-731.   Schouten, S., Klimiuk, A.M., van der Meer, M.T.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2009) Occurrence and carbon metabolisms of green nonsulfur bacteria in Californian and Nevada hot spring microbial mats. Geomicrobiology Journal 26, 179-188.   Peterse, F., Schouten, S., van der Meer, J., van der Meer, M.T.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2009) Distribution of branched tetraether lipids in geothermally heated soils: Implications for the MBT/CBT temperature proxy. Org. Geochem. 40, 201-205.   Mertens, K.N., Ribeiro, S., Bouimetarhan, I., Caner, H., Combourieu-Nebout, N., Dale, B., De Vernal, A., Ellegaard, M., Filipova, M., Godhe, A., Goubert, E., Grøsfjeld, K., Holzwarth, U., Kotthoff, U., Leroy, S.A.G., Londeix, ., Marret, F., Matsuoka, K., Mudie, P.J., Naudts, L., Peña-Manjarrez, J. L., Persson, A., Popescu, S.-A., Pospelova, V., Sangiorgi, F., van der Meer, M.T.J., Vink, A., Zonneveld, K., Vercauteren, D., Vlassenbroeck, J., Louwye, S., (2009) Process length variation in cysts of a dinoflagellate, Lingulodinium machaerophorum, in surface sediments and its potential use as a salinity proxy. Mar. Micro. 70, 54-69.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Lammerts, L., Skirnisdottir, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Schouten, S. (2008) Distribution and isotopic composition of bacterial lipid biomarkers in microbial mats from a sulfidic Icelandic hot spring. Org. Geochem. 39, 1015-1019.   Schouten, S. van der Meer, M.T.J., Hopmans E.C., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2008) Comment on “Lipids of marine Archaea: patterns and provenance in the water-column and sediments” by Courtney Turich, Katherine F. Freeman, Mary Ann Burns, Maureen Conte, A. Daniel Jones, Stuart G. Wakeham. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 72, 5342-5346.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Sangiorgi, F., Baas, M., Brinkhuis, H., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Schouten, S. (2008) Molecular isotopic and dinoflagellate evidence for Late Holocene freshening of the Black Sea. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 267, 426-434.   Schouten, S., Özdirekcan, S., van der Meer, M.T.J., Blokker, P., Baas, M., Hayes, J.M., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2008) Evidence for substantial intramolecular heterogeneity in the stable carbon isotopic composition of phytol in photoautotrophic organisms. Org. Geochem. 39, 135-146.   Schouten, S., van der Meer, M.T.J., Hopmans, E.C., Reysenbach, A.-L., Ward, D.M., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2007) Tetraether membrane lipids from hot spring microbial mats in Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 79, 6181-6191.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Baas, M., Rijpstra, W.I.C., Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Schouten, S. (2007) Hydrogen isotopic compositions of long-chain alkenones record freshwater flooding of the Eastern Mediterranean at the onset of sapropel deposition. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 262, 594-600.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Ward, D.M. (2007) Impact of carbon metabolisms on 13C signatures of cyanobacteria and green nonsulfur-like bacteria inhabiting a microbial mat from an alkaline siliceous hot spring in Yellowstone National Park (USA). Environ. Microbiol. 9, 482-491.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Bateson, M.M., Nübel, U., Wieland, A., Kühl, M., de Leeuw, J.W., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Ward, D.M. (2005) Diel variations in carbon metabolism by green nonsulfur-like bacteria in alkaline siliceous hot spring microbial mats from Yellowstone National Park. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71, 3978-3986.   Madigan, M.T., Jung, D.O., Karr, E.A., Sattley, W.M., Achenbach, L.A., van der Meer, M.T.J. (2005) Diversity of anoxygenic photothrophs in contrasting extreme environments. In Geothermal biology and geochemistry in Yellowstone National Park, Inskeep, W.P.,  McDermott, T.R. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Thermal Biology workshop, Yellowstone National Park, Wy, October 2003. Thermal Biology Institute, Montana State University Publications, Bozeman.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., De Leeuw, J.W., Ward, D.M. (2003) Compound-specific isotopic fractionation patterns suggest different carbon metab lisms among Chloroflexus-like bacteria in hot-spring microbial mats. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69, 6000-6006.   Van der Meer, M.T.J. (2002) Structure and isotopic composition of bacterial lipids: Insights into distribution and carbon acquisition mechanisms of bacteria in hot spring microbial mats. Thesis, Faculteit Aardwetenschappen Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Hanada, S., Hopmans, E.C., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Ward, D.M. (2002) Alkane-1,2-diol-based glycosides and fatty glycosides and wax esters in Roseiflexus castenholzii and hot spring microbial mats. Arch. Microbiol. 178, 229-237.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Rijpstra, W.I.C., Fuchs, G., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2001) Stable carbon isotope fractionations of the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Metallosphaera sedula. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 196, 67-70. Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Van Dongen, B.E., Rijpstra, W.I.C., Fuchs, G., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., De Leeuw, J.W., Ward, D.M. (2001) Biosynthetic controls an the 13C contents of organic components in the photoautotrophic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus. Journal of Biological Chemistry 276, 10971-10976.   Hopmans, E.C., Schouten, S., Pancost, R.D., van der Meer, M.T.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2000) Analysis of intact tetraether lipids in archaeal cell material and sediments by high performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Rapid. Commun. Mass Spectrom. 14, 585-589. Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., De Leeuw, J.W., Ward, D.M. (2000) Autotrophy of green non-sulphur bacteria in hot spring microbial mats: biological explanations for isotopically heavy organic carbon in the geological record. Environ. Microbiol. 2, 428-435. Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Ward, D.M., Geenevasen, J.A.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (1999) All-cis hentriaconta-9,15,22-triene in microbial mats formed by the phototrophic prokaryote Chloroflexus. Org. Geochem. 30, 1585-1587.   Van der Meer, M.T.J., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (1998) The effect of the reversed tricarboxylic acid cycle on the 13C contents of bacterial lipids. Org. Geochem. 28, 527-533.