Dr. ir. Filip Meysman
Senior Scientist
Department: Ecosystem Studies
T. +31 (0) 113 577 450
F. +31 (0) 113 573 616

filip.meysman(at)nioz.nl

Visiting address:

Korringaweg 7

4401 NT Yerseke

The Netherlands

Postal address:

Postbus 140

4400 AC Yerseke

The Netherlands

Senior Scientist at Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ, Yerseke, The Netherlands) and 10% Associate Professor, Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Free University of Brussels (VUB, Belgium)

MSc Marine Biology, Ghent University (Belgium)

MSc Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven (Belgium) 

• Biogeochemical cycling in the seafloor
• Electrogenic marine micro-organisms
• Role of marine sediments in coastal hypoxia and ocean acidification

ERC project: Natural microbial batteries

The electrochemical cell was invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, and it is generally considered to be a stroke of genius. Recently however, it has been found that micro-organisms have exploited this process for millions of years. This process, in which long filamentous bacteria generate electricity and transport electrons over long centimeter-sacle distances, baffles microbiologists. It involves a whole new form of respiration and completely changes our idea of how micro-organisms cooperate. The exact operational principle of the electron transport is not clear. The aim this ERC research project is to find out how the process works and how it influences the natural processes of the seabed ecosystem. Once we know how these bacteria generate electricity, this also could open up new opportunities for innovative research into bio-electric systems.

Seasonal hypoxia in Marine Lake Grevelingen

Marine Lake Grevelingen is a former estuary in the south-west Delta area of The Netherlands. In response to severe flooding in 1953, the Grevelingen was closed off by a dam from the North Sea in 1971, turning the estuary into a marine lake. Due the exclusion of tidal motions, summer stratification strongly increased, leading to seasonal hypoxia in the bottom water. This Darwin project investigates the role of sediments in the development and duration of seasonal hypoxia. It involves an integrated ecosystem study, targeting water column chemistry, sediment geochemistry, microbiology, meiofauna and macro fauna, and involves a multi-disciplinary team of partners from the Universities of Utrecht, Angers, and Aarhus.

Impact of sediments on acidification in the North sea

In coastal seas like the North Sea, the shallowness of the water column permits close interactions with the sediments. High primary production leads to high fluxes of organic matter to the sediment, which in turn generates high rates of mineralization. Recently the hypothesis was put forward that sediments could play a much more important role in the CO2 dynamics of coastal seas than previously anticipated. This “benthic-pelagic alkalinity connection” states that anaerobic processes in sediments, and particularly in those of the WaddenSea, form an important source of alkalinity to the North Sea. This ZKO project will test this hypothesis.

Please find all my publications, including downloadable PDFs, at ResearchGate.