Alexandra Rouillard, PhD

What’s the work that you do?

I investigate the effect of climate change on long-term (historical to deeptime) functioning and biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems in the Arctic through (ancient) environmental DNA and geochemical proxies in sediments.

What keeps you going?

I find Arctic ecosystems fascinating! I love spending time in these vast, barren and remote landscapes with their cold air and colors. I think a lot about why things grow or occur where they do, and feel very lucky I get to do this on a daily basis as a researcher; I love figuring out how they got there in the first place, why they keep doing well in such extreme environments, at the edge of life, the ways in which they interact on a planetary scale, and whether they will continue to do so in the uncertain future we’re facing. The interplay between life and the abiotic world is nowhere more apparent than at the extremes; I just happen to feel more at home in the cold of the Arctic than in e.g., hot deserts!

What’s your message to the world?

Life at the poles is often odd and just fascinating, and my work as a researcher helps making sense of it being there at all. I like sharing this passion I have for the cold wonders and science at large with people, particularly students. My hope for the future is that the faster warming of the Arctic than anywhere else on Earth may be slowed enough to preserve some of those wonders for future generations to get to marvel at them also.