PIETER VISSCHER - UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

Department of Marine Sciences - 1084 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340-6097
Phone:  860-405-9159     Fax:  860-405-9153     Email:  pieter.visscher@uconn.edu

Title and Role

Co-Investigator - Responsible for measurements of volatile organic sulfur compounds and volatile organic halides (speciation and fluxes), ecophysiological investigations of mechanism that produce and consume these volatiles (intact sediment, slurry, mixed and pure culture studies).

Related Experience Summary

Teaching and research in sediment microbiology, biogeochemistry and microbial ecophysiology of carbon and sulfur cycling in microbial mats, and of sulfur bacteria.

Employment History

2002, Visiting Professor, Geology Institute, ETHZ, Zürich, Switzerland
2000-present, Associate Professor, Dept. Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut
1994-2000, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut
1994-2000, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Mol. Cell Biology, University of Connecticut
1993-1994, Biogeochemist, U.S.Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
1991-1993, Post-doctoral Fellow, MAC/RSMAS, University of Miami

Education

• 1985, M.S. Marine Biology and Chemistry, Environmental Law, cum laude, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
• 1991, Ph.D. Microbiology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Professional Societies

American Society for Microbiology
American Society for Limnology and Oceanography
Geochemical Society

Selected Relevant Publications

Visscher, PT, CW Culbertson, RS Oremland (1994) Degradation of trifluoroacetate in oxic and anoxic sediments. Nature 369:729-731.

Visscher, PT, BF Taylor, RP Kiene (1995) Microbial consumption of dimethyl sulfide and methanethiol in coastal marine sediments. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 18:145-154

Visscher, PT, JR Guidetti, CW Culbertson, RS Oremland (1996) Di-methylsulfoniopropionate as a potential methanogenic substrate in Mono Lake sediments. In: Biological and Environmental Chemistry of DMSP and Related Sulfonium Compounds. RP Kiene, PT Visscher, MD Keller, GO Kirst. Plenum Press, New York, pp 361-369.

Visscher, PT (1996) Microbial turn-over of volatile sulfur compounds. In: Microbiology of Atmospheric Trace Gases. Murrell, JC, Kelly, DP (eds). Springer, Berlin, pp 227-243

Hoeft, SE, DR Rogers, PT Visscher (2000) Methyl bromide degradation in marine bacteria. Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 21:221-230

Reid, RP, PT Visscher, AW Decho, J Stolz, BM Bebout, IG Macintyre, HW Paerl, JL Pinckney, L Prufert-Bebout, TF Steppe, DJ DesMarais (2000) The role of microbes in the accretion, lamination and early lithification of modern marine stromatolites. Nature 406:989-992.

Hines, ME, PT Visscher, D Devereux (2002) Sulfur cycling. In: Manual of Environmental Microbiology, 2nd edition. Cj Hurst, RL Crawford, GR Knudsen, MJ McInerney, LD Stetzenbach, (eds) Am. Soc. Microbiol. Press, Washington DC, pp 427-438

Visscher, PT, LK Baumgartner, DH Buckley, DR Rogers, ME Hogan, CD Raleigh, KA Turk, DJ DesMarais (2003) Dimethyl sulfide and methanethiol formation in microbial mats: Potential pathways for biogenic signatures. Environmental Microbiology, in press.

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