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Leaping from prehistoric life to threatened ecosystems A career spanning research into the world before dinosaurs to wetlands of international significance would seem to require a Herculean leap. But is a challenge which Flagship research scientist Dr Evelyn Krull, 38, has taken in her stride. Her professional journey has gone from groundbreaking studies of soils from some of earliest periods of the Earth's history to research into one of Australia's most vulnerable estuarine systems, the Coorong. Evelyn's research has led her around the world, to the peat bogs of Minnesota and Michigan, the paleosols, or soil fossils, in Antarctica, New Zealand and Africa, and finally to Australia. She now leads the Aquatic Biogeochemistry and Ecology group for CSIRO Land and Water's Rivers and Estuarine Science program at the Waite campus in Adelaide. However, Evelyn's early career began in geological sciences, first at the Albert-Ludwig-Universitat Feiburg, Germany, leading to a PhD in geological sciences from the University of Oregon, USA and an opportunity to go to Antarctica. That led to a landmark study "Stable carbon isotopic depth profiles from paleosols across the Permian-Triassic boundary: Evidence for methane release". This time between the Permian and Triassic periods was when the world experienced its most extensive loss of species 250 million years ago. A move to Australia in 2000 led to a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting at CSIRO Land and Water, Adelaide. The leap from studying geology to see what happened 200 million years ago, to the aquatic sediments of today has not been an onerous one, says Evelyn. "You have to have an understanding of the present system to interpret the past, so the switch from soils to sediments in an aquatic environment hasn't been a big problem," she says. Evelyn's current research focus involves the application of stable isotopes and C-NMR spectroscopy analysis to determine the decompositional processes, carbon pool structures, and turnover rates of soil organic matter. She has looked how these methods of analysis can increase understanding of organic matter sources in estuarine systems – using, as examples, the tropical Fitzroy estuary in Queensland, and the Coorong system in South Australia. As a member of the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship's Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth project, Evelyn's work is also helping address the knowledge gaps about how to better manage and protect this environmentally significant region. Evelyn thrives on the collaborative environment of the Flagship and sees great opportunities in bridging the gap between soil sciences and aquatic sciences. "I began as a terrestrial scientist working in the aquatic environment, and soon learnt that the two groups did not talk, they did not even use the same nomenclature," she says. "We need to cultivate a new breed of scientists, people who are willing to cross boundaries. We are starting to do that, and it can open up new thinking about current assumptions." Contact: |
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| Water for a Healthy Country Flagship CSIRO Editor: Leane Regan CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratories, Canberra, ACT, 2601 Phone: +61 2 6246 4565 Fax: +61 2 6246 5560 editor.healthycountry@csiro.au www.csiro.au/healthycountry/ |
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