Brenda Thake

  • Room: 1.01, Fogg building
  • Telephone: +44 (0)20 7882 3017
  • Email: b.thake ("at" sign) qmul.ac.uk

Research interests:

Research website: http://www.biology.qmul.ac.uk/research/staff/thake/thake.htm

Physiology and ecology of marine phytoplankton

  1. Marine phytoplankton physiology and ecology. In particular, bicarbonate acquisition and use in calcification and photosynthesis and the impact of an acidifying ocean on these processes.
  2. Nutrient relations of intertidal and sub-littoral seaweeds.
  3. Coral biology, especially coupling between photosynthesis and calcification in hermatypic corals and the marked stimulation (first shown in Barbados and at QMUL by Marubini & Thake in 1999) of coral growth by bicarbonate addition.
  4. Applied phycology: freshwater and marine eutrophication; control of algal blooms.
  5. Environmental assessment of the impacts of development on water quality.

Techniques used: oxygen electrodes, fluorescence induction, biosensors, continuous cultures, light and electron microscopy, radio-isotopes, NMR spectroscopy, SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, specific antibody binding.

Publications:

  • Herfort, L., Thake, B.A. and Taubner, I. (2008) “Bicarbonate stimulation of photosynthesis and calcification in two hermatypic corals.” Journal of Phycology. To be published in Vol 44 No 1.
  • Thake, B. A. (2006) 'Gordon Elliott (Tony) Fogg (1919-2005): pioneering plant physiologist and gifted writer'. Photosynthesis Research 90, pp. 1-4.
  • Patel D., Thake B.A. and Thornton D.C.O. (2005) "Effect of light and turbulent mixing on the growth of Skeletonema costatum. (Bacillariophyceae).", Marine Biology 146, pp. 633-644.
  • Patel D., Guganesharajah K. and Thake B.A. (2004) "Modelling diatom growth in turbulent waters", Water Research 38, pp. 2713-2725.
  • Herfort L., Loste E., Meldrum F. and Thake B.A. (2004) "Structural and physiological effects of calcium and magnesium in Emiliana huxleyi (Lohmann) Hay and Mohler", Journal structural biology 148, pp. 307-314.
  • Thake B.A., Herfort L., Randone M. and Hill G. (2003) "Susceptibility of the invasive seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia to ionic aluminium", Botanica Marina 46(1), pp. 17-23.
  • Herfort L., Thake B.A. and Roberts J. (2002) "Acquisition and use of bicarbonate by Emiliana huxleyi", New Phytologist 156(3), pp. 427-436.