Did you know an Old Cranbrookian has been awarded £1.2 million to investigate how marine wildlife helps store carbon in the deep ocean?

Dr Danny Buss (Class of 2010, Webster) is a marine predator ecologist who has recently been awarded a prestigious £1.2 million UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship for her new research project, BlueFlux, which will investigate how the diets of marine animals influence the amount of carbon that sinks into the deep ocean.

Following nearly four years as a Marine Ecologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Danny is now based at Oxford Brookes University, where she will lead BlueFlux in collaboration with researchers at the British Antarctic Survey and Lancaster Environment Centre, among others. BlueFlux will focus on some of the Southern Ocean’s most remarkable animals, including baleen whales, Antarctic seabirds and several fish species. Marine vertebrates are known to play an important role in transporting carbon through ocean ecosystems, but exactly how much they contribute remains poorly understood. By investigating precisely what different species eat, and in what quantities, Danny aims to quantify how their diets are linked to the amount of carbon sinking into the deep sea, where it can be stored for long periods. This research will help scientists better estimate the contribution of marine wildlife to ocean carbon storage and identify which species may be particularly important to protect in a changing climate.

Danny’s research brings together ecology, evolution and conservation. After completing a Master’s degree in Conservation and Biodiversity at the University of Exeter, she undertook a PhD at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey. Her doctoral research used population genetics and stable isotope analysis to reconstruct the ecology, diversity and movements of baleen whales before the devastating impacts of commercial whaling. This research has helped establish a historical baseline against which modern whale populations can be compared, allowing scientists to better understand how these populations have changed and assess their recovery following centuries of exploitation. Since then, her research has expanded to encompass a wide range of marine species, including fin, sei, humpback and sperm whales, as well as walruses, seabirds, and fish. Through the analysis of archaeological remains and historical museum specimens, she has helped reconstruct marine ecosystems from centuries ago, providing valuable reference points for understanding how human activity has transformed ocean wildlife over time.

Her work has also taken her far beyond the laboratory, including scientific expeditions to some of the most remote places on Earth. During an expedition to South Georgia, Danny helped collect data on southern right and humpback whales in waters once at the heart of the commercial whaling industry. Over the past few years, she has also travelled to Antarctica to conduct research with the Penguin Watch project, contributing to efforts to understand and monitor penguin populations in one of the world's most rapidly changing environments.

Her UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship marks an exciting new chapter in her career, we wish her the best of luck.