David P. Gillikin

Visiting Assistant Professor of Earth Science and Geography

Office:Ely Hall ; Box 475

Phone: (845) 437-7138

Email: Contact David P. Gillikin

  • 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]

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