David P. Gillikin

Visiting Assistant Professor of Earth Science

office: Ely Hall 118a
box: 735
phone: 845-437-7138
website: Visit Site

Ph.D. in Biogeochemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), 2005
M.Sc. in Marine Ecology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), 2000
B.Sc. in Environmental Geology, State University of New York at New Paltz, 1994

Research Interests

After completing my B.Sc. in Environmental Geology, I worked for a number of years in materials testing and environmental monitoring in New York State. I later completed a M.Sc. in Marine Ecology, where my thesis dealt primarily with the ecophysiology of Kenyan mangrove crabs.

After my MSc, I started my PhD within the CALMARs project in 2001 under the supervision of F. Dehairs (advisor), W. Baeyens (co-advisor) and E. Keppens (co-advisor) to calibrate bivalve shells as recorders of their environment. I was especially interested in drawing on my background in physiology to unravel the physiological signal which is often superimposed on environmental signals in most biological carbonates. During my PhD, I worked primarily on two estuaries, one in Europe (the Schelde) and the other in North Carolina USA (Wade Creek), but also worked in the tropics (Kenya). I obtained my PhD in July of 2005 and moved back to the US. Since then, I have taught Environmental Geology and the Physical Geology laboratory and field excursion as an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz and am now a Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology in the Department of Geology and Geography at Vassar College where I teach Sediments, Strata, & the Environment; Evolution of Earth & Its Life (Historical Geology); Earth, Environment, & Humanity (Physical Geology); Stable Isotopes in Environmental Science; Geology of New York State and Biogeochemistry of small watersheds.

Publications

Geochemistry papers

Gillikin, D. P., A. Lorrain, L. Meng and F. Dehairs, (2007). A large metabolic carbon contribution to the δ13C record in marine aragonitic bivalve shells. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta In press.
Gillikin D. P. and S. Bouillon (2007) Determination of δ18O of water and δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon using a simple modification of an elemental analyzer – isotope ratio mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS): an evaluation. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 21: 1475-1478.
Gillikin, D. P., F. Dehairs, A. Lorrain, D. Steenmans, W. Baeyens, and L. André (2006). Barium uptake into the shells of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis) and the potential for estuarine paleo-chemistry reconstruction. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70: 395-407.
Gillikin, D. P. , A. Lorrain, S. Bouillon, P. Willenz and F. Dehairs, (2006). Stable carbon isotopic composition of Mytilus edulis shells: relation to metabolism, salinity δ13CDIC and phytoplankton. Organic Geochemistry 37: 1371-1382.
Schöne, B. R., D. L. Rodland, D. M. Surge, J. Fiebig, D. P. Gillikin, S. M. Baier, and A. Goewert (2006). Comment on “Stable carbon isotopes in freshwater mussel shells: Environmental record or marker for metabolic activity?” by J. Geist et al. (2005). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70: 2658-2661.
Lorrain A., D. P. Gillikin, Y.-M. Paulet, L. Chauvaud, A. Le Mercier, J. Navez, L. André, 2005. Strong kinetic effects on Sr/Ca ratios in the calcitic bivalve Pecten maximus. Geology 33: 965-968. [see our image on the cover]
Gillikin, D. P., F. Dehairs, W. Baeyens, J. Navez, A. Lorrain and L. André, 2005. Inter- and intra-annual variations of Pb/Ca ratios in clam shells (Mercenaria mercenaria): a record of anthropogenic lead pollution? Marine Pollution Bulletin 50: 1530-1540.
Gillikin, D. P., A. Lorrain, J. Navez, J. W. Taylor, L. André, E. Keppens, W. Baeyens and F. Dehairs, 2005 . Strong biological controls on Sr/Ca ratios in aragonitic marine bivalve shells. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 6, Q05009, doi:10.1029/2004GC000874.
Gillikin, D. P., F. De Ridder, H. Ulens, M. Elskens, E. Keppens, W. Baeyens and F. Dehairs, 2005 . Assessing the reproducibility and reliability of estuarine bivalve shells (Saxidomus giganteus) for sea surface temperature reconstruction: implications for paleoclimate studies. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 228: 70-85.
De Ridder, F., R. Pintelon, J. Schoukens and D. P. Gillikin, 2005. Modified AIC and MDL model selection criteria for short data records. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement 54 (1): 144-150.
De Ridder, F., R. Pintelon, J. Schoukens, D. P. Gillikin, L. André, W. Baeyens, A. de Brauwere and F. Dehairs, 2004. Decoding Non-linear Growth Rates in Biogenic Environmental Archives. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 5, Q12015, doi:10.1029/2004GC000771.

Mangrove crab ecology papers

Gillikin, D.P. and C.D. Schubart, 2004. Ecology and systematics of mangrove crabs of the genus Perisesarma (Crustacea: Brachyura: Sesarmidae) from East Africa. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 141 (3): 435-445. (a new species of Kenyan mangrove crab)
Gillikin, D.P., B. De Wachter and J.F. Tack, 2004. Physiological responses of two ecologically important Kenyan mangrove crabs exposed to altered salinity regimes. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 301(1):93-109.
Gillikin, D.P. and C.P. Kamanu, 2005. Burrowing in the East African mangrove crab, Chiromantes ortmanni (Crosnier, 1965) (Decapoda, Bracayura, Sesarmidae). Crustaceana.78: 1273-1275.
Gillikin, D.P., 2004. Osmoregulatory ability of Chiromantes ortmanni (Crosnier, 1965) subjected to dilute and hypersaline seawater. Crustaceana 77(1): 67-74.
Gillikin, D.P., S. De Grave and J.F. Tack, 2001. The occurrence of the semi-terrestrial shrimp Merguia oligodon (De Man, 1888) in Neosarmatium smithi H. Milne Edwards, 1853 burrows in Kenyan mangroves. Crustaceana 74(5): 505-508.

Selected Abstracts

Gillikin, D.P., A. Lorrain, and Dehairs, F., 2006. A Large Metabolic Carbon Contribution to the δ13C Record in Marine Aragonitic Bivalve Shells. Eos Trans. AGU, 87(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract PP13D-01. -oral communication
Gillikin, D.P., and Verheyden, A., 2006. A hands-on lab to help introductory students grasp the carbon cycle. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 7, p. 499 -poster
Gillikin, D.P., Lorrain, A., Bouillon, S., Willenz, P., and Dehairs, F., 2006. Can the stable carbon isotopic composition of bivalve shells be used as a proxy of δ13C-DIC and provide an indication of estuarine salinity? Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 7, p. 378. -oral communication
Gillikin, D. P., F. Dehairs, D. Steenmans, A. Lorrain, L. André, J. Navez, W. Baeyens and the CALMARs group (2005) Barium uptake into the shells of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis): results from a field and laboratory experiment. EGU General Assembly 2005, Vienna, Austria. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 7, 00073. -poster
Gillikin, D. P. , F. Dehairs, D. Steenmans, L. Meng, T. Haifeng, J. Navez, L. André, W. Baeyens, E. Keppens, and the CALMARS group, 2004. Trace element proxies (Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca and Pb/Ca) in Bivalve shells: environmental signals or not? Eos Trans. AGU, 85(46), Fall Meet. San Francisco, CA, Suppl., Abstract B13E-08 -oral communication.
Gillikin, D. P., F. Dehairs, W. Baeyens, J. Navez, L. André, E. Keppens, and the CALMARs group, 2004. The potentials of Aragonitic Bivalves as paleoclimate proxies: d18O, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca. International Paleo-environments Symposium (QRA2004), Brussels, Belgium, 15-17 September. -oral communication
Gillikin, D. P., J. Navez, F. Dehairs, W. Baeyens and L. André, 2004. Validation of Laser Ablation-ICP-MS results with Solution Nebulization-HR-ICP-MS. European Science Foundation workshop : Isotopic microsampling in Earth, Environmental and Archaeological Sciences, September 9-11, 2004, Durham, UK. -poster
Gillikin, D. P., D. Steenmans, F. Dehairs, W. Baeyens, J. Navez, L. Andre, E. Keppens, and the CALMARs group, 2004. Calibration and validation of the mussel Mytilus edulis as an environmental archive. 1st EGU General Assembly, Nice, France, 26 - 30 April 2004. Abstract EGU04-A-04054. -poster
Gillikin, D. P., Ulens, H., Dehairs, F., Baeyens, W., Navez, J., Andre, L., Keppens, E., and the Calmars Group, 2004. Sr and Mg Profiles in Aragonitic Bivalves: Do They Record Temperature? Eos Trans. AGU, 84(52), Ocean Sci. Meet. Portland, OR, Suppl., Abstract OS42B-06. -poster
Gillikin, D. P., F. Dehairs, W. Baeyens, J. Navez, L. Andre, and the CALMARs group, 2003. The potentials of high resolution trace element profiles in bivalve shells as a record of paleoenvironment: exploring Mercenaria mercenaria. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 5, 11503 -poster

Student guidance

Ulens, H., 2003. The potentials of Saxidomus giganteus as a paleoclimate proxy. MareLac M.Sc. thesis. Gent University, Belgium. Promoter: F. Dehairs; Mentor: D.P. Gillikin
Meng, L., 2004. Can bivalves be used as archives of anthropogenic carbon input to the marine environment? EST M.Sc. thesis Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Promoter: F. Dehairs; Co-promoter: D.P. Gillikin
Steenmans, D., 2004. Do Marine Bivalve Shells Record Paleo-Productivity? M.Sc./ lic. thesis. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Promoter: F. Dehairs; Co-promoter: D.P. Gillikin
Meert, I., 2005. Reconstruction of environmental conditions at the Belgian coastal area over the past 800 years using Mytilus edulis shells. M.Sc. thesis Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Promoter: F. Dehairs; Co-promoter: D.P. Gillikin [winner of 2005 best thesis award, The Flanders Marine Institute VLIZ]

Earth Science

Geography

Staff

Earth Science & Geography

Vassar College