Dr. Dick van Oevelen

I study the marine food web in a variety of locations: from Dutch river estuaries and shallow seas such as the Caribbean Sea, to the fjords of Greenland and the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. In all these places, plants and animals (including plankton), fungi, and bacteria are interconnected because they transfer energy and nutrients to each other. Deciphering their interactions is a challenging task. In my research, I use advanced techniques, such as isotope analysis to determine how substances move from one to another. And with microscopic photography, I measure how active tiny living creatures are in places where humans cannot go to study them.