Background

Background

I completed my PhD at the University of Nottingham, School of Geography in 2017 where I used a range of geochemical techniques to reconstruct records of carbon cycling in Arctic lakes across a landscape gradient.  My research gave me the opportunity to understand how change over the last ~7500 years can be modified by the catchment, highlighting the importance of permafrost, glaciers and vegetation in mediating lacustrine records of carbon cycling.

I am currently working with Dr. Geoff Abbott as a Research Associate on the organic geochemical aspects of the NERC Changing Arctic Ocean Seafloor (ChAOS) project in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.  I participated in summer 2017, 2018 & 2019 NERC cruises aboard the RRS James Clark Ross to collect sediment cores along a changing sea ice gradient in the Barents Sea. I am now analysing these sediments for a range of lipid biomarkers to quantify the bioavailability, transformation and cycling of organic carbon, focusing on its burial at the seafloor.

ORCID

Google Scholar

Education Summary

2017-present Research Associate, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University

2012-2017 PhD in Geography, School of Geography, University of Nottingham

“Carbon cycling in Arctic lakes: sedimentary biomarker reconstructions from Disko Island, West Greenland”

2011-2012 MSc in Environmental Management, School of Geography, University of Nottingham

2008-2011 BSc in Geography, School of Geography, University of Nottingham (1^st Class Hons)

Professional Membership 

Quaternary Research Association

Freshwater Biological Association

Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography

Member of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management

Research

Research Project

'Changing Arctic Ocean Seafloor (ChAOS)'

Publications

• Freitas FS, Hendry KR, Henley SF, Faust JC, Tessin AC, Stevenson MA, Abbott GD, März C, Arndt S. Benthic-pelagic coupling in the Barents Sea: an integrated data-model framework. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 2020, 378(2181), 20190359.
• Liang J, Huang C, Stevenson MA, Qiao Q, Zeng L, Chen X. Changes in summer diatom composition and water quality in urban lakes within a metropolitan area in central China. International Review of Hydrobiology 2020, 105(3-4), 94-105.
• Faust JC, Stevenson MA, Abbott GD, Knies J, Tessin A, Mannion I, Ford A, Hilton R, Peakall J, März C. Does Arctic warming reduce preservation of organic matter in Barents Sea sediments?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 2020, 378(2181).
• Saitta ET, Vinther J, Crisp MK, Abbott GD, Kaye TG, Pittman M, Bull I, Fletcher I, Chen X, Collins MJ, Sakalauskaite J, Mackie M, DalBello F, Dickinson MR, Stevenson MA, Donohoe P, Heck PR, Demarchi B, Penkman KEH. Non-avian dinosaur eggshell calcite contains ancient, endogenous amino acids. bioRxiv 2020, 129999.
• Stevenson MA, Faust JC, Andrade LL, Freitas FS, Gray ND, Tait K, Hendry KR, Hilton RG, Henley SF, Tessin A, Leary P, Papadaki S, Ford A, März C, Abbott GD. Transformation of organic matter in a Barents Sea sediment profile: coupled geochemical and microbiological processes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 2020, 378(2181).
• Stevenson MA, Abbott GD. Changes in sedimentary organic matter burial across a retreating sea ice gradient in the Arctic Barents Sea. In: 29th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry. 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Chen X, Qiao Q, McGowan S, Zeng L, Stevenson MA, Xu L, Huang C, Liang J, Cao Y. Determination of geochronology and sedimentation rates of shallow lakes in the middle Yangtze reaches using ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs and spheroidal carbonaceous particles. CATENA 2019, 174, 546-556.
• Stevenson MA, Abbott GD. Exploring the composition of macromolecular organic matter in Arctic Ocean sediments under a changing sea ice gradient. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 2019, 140, 102-111.
• Freitas FS, Stevenson MA, Abbott GD, Hilton R, Henley S, Faust J, Tessin A, März C, Solan M, Hendry K, Arndt S. Integrated data-model assessment of organic matter reactivity in the changing Barents Sea sediments. In: 29th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry. 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden: European Association of Organic Geochemists.
• Chen X, McGowan S, Xiao X, Stevenson MA, Yang X, Li Y, Zhang E. Direct and indirect effects of Holocene climate variations on catchment and lake processes of a treeline lake, SW China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2018, 502, 119-129.
• Chen X, Stevenson MA, Zeng L, Qiao Q. Diatom distribution in an alpine basin (central China) in relation to environmental factors and substrata. Diatom Research 2017, 32(3), 251-262.
• Stevenson MA, McGowan S, Anderson NJ, Foy RH, Leavitt PR, McElarney YR, Engstrom DR, Pla-Rabés S. Impacts of forestry planting on primary production in upland lakes from north-west Ireland. Global Change Biology 2016, 22(4), 1490-1504.
• Chen X, Bu Z, Stevenson MA, Cao Y, Zeng L, Qin B. Variations in diatom communities at genus and species levels in peatlands (central China) linked to microhabitats and environmental factors. Science of The Total Environment 2016, 568, 137-146.
• Taranu ZE, Gregory-Eaves I, Leavitt PR, Bunting L, Buchaca T, Catalan J, Domaizon I, Guilizzoni P, Lami A, McGowan S, Moorhouse H, Morabito G, Pick FR, Stevenson MA, Thompson PL, Vinebrooke RD. Acceleration of cyanobacterial dominance in north temperate‐subarctic lakes during the Anthropocene. Ecology Letters 2015, 18(4), 375-384.
• Stevenson MA. Arctic carbon cycling in an upland lake: preliminary results from Disko Island, west Greenland. Quaternary Newsletter 2015, 135, 28-30.
• McGowan S, Stevenson M, Whiteford E, Pearson E. Carbon processing in Arctic lakes when vegetation changes on land. In: Callaghan, TV; Savela,H, ed. INTERACT Stories of Arctic Science. Aarhus University, 2015, pp.138-139.
• Chen X, Qin Y, Stevenson MA, McGowan S. Diatom communities along pH and hydrological gradients in three montane mires, central China. Ecological Indicators 2014, 45, 123-129.