Dr. Travis Meador

Name:		Dr. Travis Meador
Department:		AG Hinrichs
Job:		Postdoctoral Investigator
Phone:		+49 421 218 - 65744
Fax:		+49 421 218 - 65715
E-Mail:

What it is that I do here: An Elevator Conversation

Firstly, can you appreciate the importance of plant life for the planet? ...Over centuries we have learned the relative importance and cultivation practices of many plant species, for crops, medicine, decoration, architecture, etc. Plants are a natural sustenance that are pulling carbon from the atmosphere, turning it into living biomass, and producing the oxygen that we breathe.

EQUALLY IMPORTANT as carbon assimilation by photosynthesis, is the removal of carbon, and degradation of living biomass. Humans have also learned to benefit from this natural process; examples include composting, treating wastewater, and even brewing!

COMPARATIVELY, we have only begun to explore the many varieties and quantity of carbon degradation mechanisms on Earth. I am currently researching these and other capabilities of micro-organisms in marine sediments...

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Organic Biogeochemistry
Stable Isotope Geochemistry
Marine Molecular Microbiolgy
Marine Nutrient Cylcing

Curriculum_Vitae_TBM_Feb2009.pdf

EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT

2010 - present	Postdoctoral Investigator	University of Bremen, MARUM Center for Environmental Sciences	Bremen, Germany
2008-2010	Postdoctoral Investigator	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution	Woods Hole, MA, USA
2008	Postdoctoral Investigator	University of the Aegean	Mytilini, Greece
2001-2008	Ph.D. Oceanography	Univeristy of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceannography	La Jolla, CA, USA
1997-2001	B.S. Marine Sciences	University of South Carolina	Columbia, SC, USA

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DARCLIFE PROJECTS

Global Lipid Survey: White Oak River Estuary, NC, USA

This estuary has been shown to harbor large communities of the obscure Miscellaneous Crenarchaea Group. In October 2010, together with scientists at the Univeristy of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and a MARUM postdoc stationed at this campus (C. Lazar), we collected estuarine sediment cores to explore the distribution of MCG and its intact polar lipid signatures, as well as the geochemical anomolies that give rise to their dominance of the archaeal community. In addition, we are working with microbiologists at the University of Regensburg to establish the first laboratory culture of MCG.

Associate researchers: Dr. Andreas Teske (UNC), Dr. Casandre Lazar (UNC), Dr. Howard Mendlovitz (UNC), Dr. Emma Gagen (Univ. Regensburg), Nadine Goldenstein (Univ. Bremen), Gina Kuippers (Univ. Bremen) more...

Dynamics of IPLs in Archaea Cultures

To investigate the significance of intact polar lipid head group and core lipid compositions, we are working together with Dr. Emma Gagen and a team of researchers at University of Regensburg who manipulate the culture conditions of selected Archaea. These experiments identify changes in IPL composition in response to cellular metabolic activity.

Associate researchers: Prof. Dr. Michael Thomm (Univ. Regensburg), Dr. Emma Gagen (Univ. Regensburg), Nadine Goldenstein (Univ. Bremen), Gina Kuippers (Univ. Bremen) more...

Sampling with Cassandre Lazar and Captain Sharif

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PUBLICATIONS

Meador, T. B., Aluwihare, L.I., Mahaffey, C. 2007. Isotopic heterogeneity and cycling of organic nitrogen in the oligotrophic ocean. Limnol. and Oceanogr. 53 (2), 934-947. (Link)
Aluwihare, L.I. and Meador, T.B. 2008. Chemical composition of marine dissolved organic nitrogen. In: Nitrogen in the Marine Environment (2nd Edition), ed. D.C. Capone, D.A. Bronk, M. R. Mulholland, E.J. Carpenter, Elsevier. (Link)
Meador, T. B., Gogou, A., Spyres, G., et al. 2010. Correlations between dissolved organic matter chemical composition, the prokaryotic community, and biogeochemical cycles in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Deep Sea Res. II 57 (16), 1460-1477. (Link)
Frangoulis, C., Psarra, S., Zervakis, V., Meador, T., et al. 2010. Connecting export flux to plankton food-web efficiency in the Black Sea waters inflowing into the Mediterranean Sea. J. of Plankton Res. 32 (8), 1203-1216. (Link)