You are in: Home » Staff and students » Institute Associates » Nick Cutler
- E-mail: nick.cutler@chu.cam.ac.uk
- Tel: 01223 761184
- Fax: 01223 336180
- Address:
Scott Polar Research Institute
University of Cambridge
Lensfield Road
Cambridge
CB2 1ER
UK or Trinity College
Cambridge
CB2 1TQ
Jump to information on:
Nick Cutler MA PhD
College Lecturer in Geography, Trinity College and Fellow of Churchill College.
Physical geographer with a special interest in long-term ecological change, particularly in high-latitude habitats.
Biography
Career
- 2011-present: College Lecturer in Geography (Trinity College) & Fellow in Geography (Churchill College)
- 2009-2011: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, School of Geography & the Environment, University of Oxford; Research Fellow & Tutor in Geography, Keble College, Oxford
- 2008-2009: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage, University of Edinburgh
Qualifications
- PhD Geography – University of Edinburgh
- MA Geography – University of Cambridge
Research
My research is concerned with long-term (decade - century) ecosystem development, specifically primary succession, on surfaces ranging from lava flows to the walls of stone buildings. Most of my work has focussed on the emergence and persistence of spatial patchiness during succession and the implications that spatial heterogeneity has for ecosystem function and geomorphological processes. I have recently become interested in the role that microbes play in ecosystem development and I am currently researching long-term changes in soil microbial communities in Iceland.
Publications
- Cutler, N.A., Viles, H.A., Ahmad, S., McCabe, S. & Smith, B.J. (2013) Algal 'greening' and the conservation of stone heritage structures. Science of the Total Environment, 442, 152-164.
- Cutler, N.A., Oliver, A.E., Viles, H.A. & Whiteley, A.S. (2012) Non-destructive sampling of rock-dwelling microbial communities using sterile adhesive tape. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 91, 391-398.
- Viles, H.A. & Cutler, N.A. (2012) Global environmental change and the biology of heritage structures. Global Change Biology, 18, 2406-2418.
- Heinemann, N., Wilkinson, M., Pickup, G.E., Hazeldine, R.S. & Cutler, N.A. (2012) CO2 storage in the offshore UK Bunter Sandstone Formation. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 6, 210-219.
- Cutler, N. (2011) Vegetation-environment interactions in a sub-arctic primary succession. Polar Biology, 34, 693-706.
- Cutler, N. (2011) Nutrient limitation during long-term ecosystem development inferred from a mat-forming moss. The Bryologist, 141, 204-214.
- Smith, B.J., Srinivasan, S., McCabe, S., McAllister, D., Cutler, N.A., Basheer, P.A.M. & Viles, H.A. (2011) Climate change and the testing of complex moisture regimes in building stone: preliminary observations on possible strategies. Materials Evaluation, 69, 48-58.
- Cutler, N. & Viles, H. (2010) Eukaryotic microorganisms and stone biodeterioration. Geomicrobiology Journal, 27, 630-646.
- Cutler, N. (2010) Long-term primary succession: a comparison of non-spatial and spatially explicit inferential techniques. Plant Ecology, 208, 123-136.
- Cutler, N.A., Belyea, L.R. & Dugmore, A.J. (2008) Spatial patterns of microsite colonisation on two young lava flows on Mount Hekla, Iceland. Journal of Vegetation Science, 19, 277-286.
- Cutler, N.A., Belyea, L.R. & Dugmore, A.J. (2008) The spatiotemporal dynamics of a primary succession. Journal of Ecology, 96, 231-246.
Teaching
I provide supervisions for the following papers in the Geography Tripos:
- Part IA Paper 2: Physical Geography
- Part 1B Paper 1: Biogeography
- Part II Paper 7: Volcanology
- Part II Paper 8: Quaternary Environments
External activities
- 2009 – present: Visiting Scientist, Centre of Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford