麻豆传媒

Summary

I'm a physical geographer interested in long-term ecological change, particularly in soil and plant communities, and the ecological impacts of volcanic processes. My recent work has focused on the development of soil microbial communities, and the impact of different vegetation types on the preservation of volcanic ash deposits. I conduct fieldwork in Iceland, NW USA and Patagonia.

View a short film about my recent research .

Key words: Succession, tephra deposits

Career

• 2011-2017: College Lecturer in Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
• 2009-2011: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, School of Geography & the Environment, University of Oxford
• 2008-2009: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage, University of Edinburgh

Education

• PhD Geography – University of Edinburgh
• MA Geography – University of Cambridge

Profile

My research combines elements of ecology, biogeography and environmental science. I'm interested in the terrestrial biosphere and its influence on earth surface processes.

Current work

I'm currently leading the NERC-funded project Investigating the early human settlement of Iceland with ancient soil DNA (NE/X010929/1). This project aims to establish if early human settlement of Iceland can be detected and described through the analysis of ancient (centuries-old) DNA (aDNA) in soil. The start date for the project is May 2023.

I'm also Co-I on Dr Rob Shaw's project Urban Sensory Pollutants in Singapore and Johor Bahru, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2025-032). The project starts in June 2025 and will run for 30 months.

For a period of two years from April 2025, I will be PI on the project Uncovering the impacts of volcanic ash deposition on plant and soil communities. The project is funded by a Royal Society International Exchange grant (IES\R3\243010) and will conducted in collaboration with Dr Jenny Zambrano (WSU) and will use permanent plots and manipulative experiments to discover how ecosystems recovered from the eruption of Mount St Helens in 1980.

Background

My work falls into two related categories, namely long-term (decades to centuries) ecosystem development and feedbacks between biological communities and the physical environment.

Ecosystem development

My work on ecosystem development has focussed on long-term changes in communities of plants and microbes.

My NERC-funded PhD investigated 850 years of vegetation succession on the lava flows of Mt Hekla, Iceland. I was particularly interested in the emergence and persistence of spatial pattern in plant communities, and later extended this work below ground, using molecular (DNA) techniques to study long-term changes in communities of soil bacteria and fungi (support from British Ecological Society & Oxford University, 2009-11).

After my PhD, I worked on (EPSRC, 2009-12) which investigated the development of microbial communities on building stone. I was involved in characterizing the communities using molecular techniques and assessing their impact on the movement of moisture through stone (inferred using geoelectrical methods).

I also contributed to the project (NERC, 2012-15), which assessed the impact of wildfires on biogeochemical cycling in boreal ecosystems, and (CLIMIFUN) (H2020, 2016-19), an analysis of global differences in soil ecosystem function during ecosystem development.

Biophysical feedbacks

My research into biophysical feedbacks has focused on the role that vegetation plays in geomorphological processes, namely, the preservation of volcanic ash (tephra) deposits and soil erosion.

I was Co-Investigator on the project T (NSF EAGER, 2013-15), which studied the impact of vegetation structure on tephra layer preservation in Iceland and Washington State. The goal of this work was to improve reconstructions of past volcanic eruptions. Building on this project, I led the Tephra transformations project (RGS & QRA, 2018 - ongoing) to investigate the preservation and gradual transformation of the tephra deposit produced by the eruption of Mount St Helens in 1980.

I am currently contributing to the project Tephra transformations in South America: decoding the record of past volcanic eruptions, looking at differences in tephra layer preservation in lakes and terrestrial settings (Carnegie Trust & 麻豆传媒, 2019 - ongoing).

In addition to work on tephra layer preservation, I recently conducted fieldwork in Iceland (2017 – ongoing) that modelled the initiation and growth of erosion patches in a sub-Arctic rangeland, to investigate ecological resilience along an environmental gradient.

I contribute to the following modules:

Stage 1

• GEO1023: Environment & society

Stage 2

• GEO2127: Research design & planning for physical geographers (module leader)
• GEO2137: Key methods in physical geography

Stage 3

• GEO3099: Dissertation
• GEO3218: Polar environments

• Articles

  • Cutler NA, Streeter RT, Hutchison W, Dugmore AJ. . Quaternary Geochronology 2026, 94, 101745.
  • Streeter RT, Cutler NA, Lawson IT, Hutchison W, Dominguez L, Hiles W. . Frontiers in Earth Science 2024, 12, 1433960.
  • Kodl G, Streeter R, Cutler N, Bolch T. . Remote Sensing of Environment 2024, 301, 113935.
  • Cutler NA, Kodl G, Streeter RT, Thompson PIJ, Dugmore AJ. . European Journal of Soil Science 2023, 74(4), e13393.
  • Arróniz-Crespo M, Bougoure J, Murphy DV, Cutler NA, Souza-Egipsy V, Chaput DL, Jones DL, Ostle N, Wade SC, Clode PL, DeLuca TH. . Frontiers in Plant Science 2022, 13, 1036258.
  • Thompson PIJ, Dugmore AJ, Newton AJ, Streeter RT, Cutler NA. . Boreas 2021, 51(2), 317-331.
  • Cutler N, Streeter RT, Dugmore AJ, Sear ER. . Bulletin of Volcanology 2021, 83, 45.
  • Delgado-Baquerizo M, Reich PB, Bardgett RD, Eldridge DJ, Lambers H, Wardle DA, Reed SC, Plaza C, Png GK, Neuhauser S, Berhe AA, Hart SC, Hu HW, He JZ, Bastida F, Abades S, Alfaro FD, Cutler NA, Gallardo A, García-Velázquez L, Hayes PE, Hseu ZY, Pérez CA, Santos F, Siebe C, Trivedi P, Sullivan BW, Weber-Grullon L, Williams MA, Fierer N. . Nature Communications 2020, 11, 4721.
  • Delgado-Baquerizo M, Reich PB, Trivedi C, Eldridge DJ, Abades S, Alfaro FD, Bastida F, Berhe AA, Cutler NA, Gallardo A, García-Velázquez L, Hart SC, Hayes PE, He JZ, Hseu ZY, Hu HW, Kirchmair M, Neuhauser S, Pérez CA, Reed SC, Santos F, Sullivan BW, Trivedi P, Wang JT, Weber-Grullon L, Williams MA, Singh BK. . Nature Ecology and Evolution 2020, 4, 210-220.
  • Cutler NA, Streeter RT, Engwell SL, Bolton MS, Jensen BJL, Dugmore AJ. . Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 2020, 399, 106883.
  • Streeter RT, Cutler NA. . Land Degradation and Development 2020, 31(15), 2003-2018.
  • Bastida F, García C, Fierer N, Eldridge DJ, Bowker MA, Abades S, Alfaro FD, Berhe AA, Cutler NA, Gallardo A, García-Velázquez L, Hart SC, Hayes PE, Hernández T, Hseu ZY, Jehmlich N, Kirchmair M, Lambers H, Neuhauser S, Peña-Ramírez VM, Pérez CA, Reed SC, Santos F, Siebe C, Sullivan BW, Trivedi P, Vera A, Williams MA, Moreno JL, Delgado-Baquerizo M. . Nature Communications 2019, 10, 3481.
  • Delgado-Baquerizo M, Bardgett R, Vitousek P, Maestre F, Williams M, Eldridge D, Lambers H, Neuhauser S, Gallardo A, García-Velázquez L, Sala O, Abades S, Alfaro F, Berhe A, Bowker M, Currier C, Cutler N, Hart S, Hayes P, Hseu ZY, Kirchmair M, Peña-Ramírez V, Pérez C, Reed S, Santos F, Siebe C, Sullivan B, Weber-Grullon L, Fierer N. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2019, 116(14), 6891-6896.
  • Cutler NA, Streeter RT, Marple J, Shotter LR, Yeoh JS, Dugmore AJ. . Bulletin of Volcanology 2018, 80, 77.
  • Cutler NA, Arróniz-Crespo M, Street LE, Jones DL, Chaput DL, DeLuca TH. . Microbial Ecology 2017, 73(1), 75-90.
  • Cutler NA, Bailey RM, Hickson KT, Streeter RT, Dugmore AJ. . Progress in Physical Geography 2016, 40(5), 661-675.
  • Cutler NA, Shears OM, Streeter RT, Dugmore AJ. . Scientific Reports 2016, 6, 37260.
  • Cutler NA, Chaput DL, van der Gast CJ. . Soil Biology & Biochemistry 2014, 69, 359-370.

• Book Chapter

  • Keith DA, Cutler NA. . In: Keith,DA;Ferrer-Paris,JR;Nicholson,E;Kingsford,RT, ed. IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology 2.0: Descriptive profiles for biomes and ecosystem functional groups. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, 2020, pp.54.