GIMI
The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
Geoforensics and Information Management for crime Investigation (GIMI)
Project Staff - Catriona Macdonald
Dr. Catriona Macdonald BSc, PhD.
Molecular Microbial Ecologist
Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited
Kenepuru Science Centre
PO Box 50 348
Porirua, New Zealand
Tel: +64 4 914 0717
Fax: +64 4 914 0770
catriona.macdonald@esr.cri.nz
http://www.esr.cri.nz
http://www.esr.cri.nz/competencies/populationhealth/SoilDNA.htm
http://www.esr.cri.nz/competencies/populationhealth/CatrionaMacdonald.htm
Current research activities
Catriona is a post-doctoral research scientist at ESR and holds a PhD in Microbial Ecology.She hasexperience in functional assessment and molecular analysis (T-RFLP, DGGE and PLFA) of microbial communities in soils.
She has interests in the effects of environmental pollutants and land management practices on the biodiversity and functioning of soil microbial communities and the implications for microbial driven nutrient cycling within agricultural and forest ecosystems.
Current Research interests involve:
The validation of microbial fingerprinting tools for the forensic comparison of soils.
Use of molecular microbial fingerprinting tools for forensic comparison of environmental samples.
Impacts of sewage sludge application on the structure and functioning of soil microbial communities.
Assessing pollution induced community tolerance in soil microbial communities exposed to heavy metal contamination.
Understanding the impacts of perturbation on the functioning of soil microbial communities and consequences for ecosystem functioning.
Impacts of sewage sludge application on the structure and functioning of soil microbial communities.
Assessing pollution induced community tolerance in soil microbial communities exposed to heavy metal contamination.
Development of molecular microbial fingerprinting tools for forensic comparison of soils. Catrionais currently carrying out validation and variation surveys to validate the use of molecular fingerprinting tools for forensic comparison of soils.