Dr Ian Bull

Research summary

My research interests broadly encompass the use and development of biomarker and/or compound specific stable isotope methodologies to investigate biogeochemical processes operating within the terrestrial and fresh water environments. Current areas of interest include but are not limited to:

• the molecular fate of organic matter in soil,
• soil faunal food webs and the effect that soil fauna have on the decomposition of soil organic matter,
• use of faecal biomarkers in archaeological and contemporary environmental contexts
• analysis organic pollutants in soils and freshwater,
• chemical proxies for methane emissions in ruminants,
• the decomposition and detection of human and animal remains in ...

Read more >

Biography

I obtained a BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry at the University of Bristol in 1993 then subsequently stayed at Bristol to study for a PhD investigating soil lipids and their application in archaeology and the natural environment. I was awarded my PhD in February 1998 and was then employed as a NERC funded postdoctoral research assistant working on the trophic preferences and interactions of micro and mesofauna found in terrestrial soil systems. This project was carried out in collaboration with The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

In September 2001 I took over management of the Bristol node of the NERC ...

Read more >

Links

•   Personal Website
• Organic Geochemistry Unit (OGU) Website

Selected publications

• Wurster, C, Bird, M, Bull, I, Creed, F, Bryant, C, Dungait, J & Paz, V 2010, ‘Forest contraction in north equatorial Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Period’. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, vol 107., pp. 15508 - 15511
• Gill, F, Dewhurst, R, Dungait, J, Evershed, R, Ives, L, Pancost, R, Sullivan, M, Bera, S & Bull, I 2010, ‘Archaeol – a biomarker for foregut fermentation in modern and ancient herbivorous mammals?’. Organic Geochemistry, vol 41., pp. 467 - 472

Read more >