Kevin Purdy

Our planet is a self-sustaining system that all organisms contribute to and affect. However, many of the most critical processes, such as the production of oxygen and the constant recycling of other vital components like carbon, nitrogen and sulfur are driven by the activity of microbes in the oceans, lakes, soils and sediments on our planet. I focus on understanding how and where these microbes are active and how they change as the planet changes. This work helps us understand how the planet has changed and will potentially change in the future, particularly as many of these organisms affect the production and degradation of critical greenhouse gases like CO2, methane and nitrous oxide. I am also interested in how and why certain microbes are found in specific places, from lakes and sediments for climate active gases to humans and animals where the microbes affect their hosts’ health and well-being. My research has taken me to sites in Japan, sub-Antarctic islands and continental Antarctica as well as including data from the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as many places in the UK. I teach fundamental aspects of the biology of microbes and how they affect the planet and humans directly. These include the basic processes that allow microbes to grow and interact with their environment to the microbes that drive the global cycling of carbon and nitrogen and their ecological impacts. I also teach the first labs our students take on their courses as we develop the skills needed to be an experimental scientist.

Si, Yueyue, Zhu, Yizhu, Sanders, Ian, Kinkel, Dorothee B., Purdy, Kevin J. and Trimmer, Mark (2023) Direct biological fixation provides a freshwater sink for N2O. Nature Communications, 14 (1). 6775. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-42481-2 ISSN 2041-1723. Zhu, Yizhu, Purdy, Kevin J., Martínez Rodríguez, Ana and Trimmer, Mark (2023) A rationale for higher ratios of CH4 to CO2 production in warmer anoxic freshwater sediments and soils. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 8 (3). pp. 398-405. doi:10.1002/lol2.10327 ISSN 2378-2242.