Leanne Armand

Dr Leanne Armand (born 20 February 1968) is a marine scientist and an expert in the identification of diatoms in the Southern Ocean. She is known for her contributions to the understanding of past Southern Ocean dynamics and sea ice as a result of her knowledge of diatom distributions and ecology.

Her current research focuses on the distribution of diatoms, a single-cell microscopic phytoplankton, within the Southern Ocean. Different species of diatoms inhabit different regions of the ocean, depending on the physical characteristics (e.g. temperature, salinity and nutrients) of the water mass. Understanding their distribution and how it is preserved in the fossil record contained within sediment cores taken from the ocean floor can provide information about past climate regimes, including ocean temperatures and sea ice extent. Armand has also recently studied diatoms in the Southern Ocean near Kerguelen and Heard Islands to examine their role in the transport of carbon to the ocean floor after their annual spring bloom.[1]

Early life

Armand was born on 20 February 1968 in Adelaide, South Australia. She spent a lot of time as a child at the nearby beaches, collecting seashells and using them to set up 'museums' at home along with other bits and pieces.[2]

Armand's interest in biology was nurtured by excellent high school teachers at St Mary's College, Adelaide, where she won the Green Biology prize for best student. In Year 12 she was selected to participate in a Rotary exchange to a high school in Arkansas, U.S.A. To her dismay, she found that she outclassed all the local students in a DNA test on the first day she attended – not the best way to make friends in a new high school.[2]

Education

Armand studied biology at Flinders University for her undergraduate degree and, after one false start on an Honours project in Alice Springs, finished an Honours degree at the Australian National University studying fossils from Teapot Creek in the southern Monaro region of New South Wales, under the guidance of Australia's grandfather of vertebrate fossils, Prof. William David Ride.[2]

Deciding to specialise in micropalaeontology, the study of tiny fossils, for her PhD studies, Armand examined the fossilised remains of algae found in deep sea sediment cores. She used these to interpret past climate conditions by looking at which types were indicative of warmer or cooler temperatures, and how this represented the advance or retreat of sea ice.[2]

Armand's PhD project was a joint collaboration between the Australian National University and the University of Bordeaux in France. Her French connections are not only academic: with a French partner, she completed writing up her PhD thesis in France, with the intention to try and spend her early career in France or elsewhere overseas. However, when the offer of a post-doctoral position came up in Hobart, Tasmania, Armand and her family, including her three-month-old son packed up to move back to Australia. Armand now has a second son.

Her post-doctoral research continued to examine the role of sea ice dynamics in the Southern Ocean dynamics over the past 190,000 years. Her research has helped inform climate modellers and oceanographers about how sea ice extent helps drive ocean circulation and how this affects fisheries stocks, the broader food web, and also the underlying connections between sea surface temperatures and terrestrial climates.

Armand was employed in 2009 by Macquarie University, and joined the Department of Biological Sciences where she lectures in marine sciences and first year skills-based courses. She heads a small dedicated team of avid phytoplankton researchers and students. She will be the first chief scientist to take the new Australian research ship RV Investigator to the Southern Ocean with a team of international researchers to help with understanding past glacial and interglacial conditions off the coast of Antarctica near the Totten Glacier, Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica, in 2017.

Awards and positions

References

  1. ↑ "Macquarie University Faculty of Science: Dr Leanne Armand". Macquarie University. Macquarie University. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Interviews with Australian Scientists: Dr Leanne Armand". Interviews with Australian Scientists. The Australian Academy of Science. 2001. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
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