Dr Susan Kimmance is a microbial ecologist at PML, whose main area of research is the functional ecology of phytoplankton. She is particularly interested in the impact of abiotic and biotic stress on phytoplankton physiology and mortality and how this influences primary production, microbial food web dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. Since joining PML in 2003 her research has combined laboratory experimentation with coastal and oceanic fieldwork to investigate primarily the functional relationships between algal viruses and their phytoplankton hosts, and thus elucidate the ecological importance of viral control of primary production in comparison with other mortality pathways such as grazing or cell death. Linking phytoplankton to stress-induced production of marine trace gases has been an additional focus of more recent research (in collaboration with the trace gas group at PML): assessing the potential antioxidant role of DMSP; the fate of DMSP production through grazing and viral lysis; and determining how the physiological processes leading to DMS production are affected by changing environmental conditions.

To investigate primarily the functional relationships between algal viruses and their phytoplankton hosts.