Faculty Spotlight: Ashley Burkett

Focus on Teaching: Active Learning in GEOL 1003

bforams@mikrotax is Live!

Dr. Burkett and her students have been involved in the creation of an online database for benthic foraminifera identification. Check out this amazing tool here and email Dr. B if you are interested in getting involved! 

Ford and Burkett at FORAMS2023

Trenity Ford, PhD student, and Dr. Burkett bpth presented at the FORAMS2023 meeting in Perugia, Italy this summer

GSA Southcentral at OSU in 2023

Three undergrads took home Outstanding Student Presentation awards! Check out the NINE abstracts and award winners here: Southcentral GSA 2023

Student at Sea!

PhD Candidate, Trenity Ford, will be at sea for 14 days! Follow his journey here.

Research on Tap

Dr. B will be participating Research on Tap at the Iron Munk Brewery in October. If you want to attend check this page for updates.

MARSSAM PI Cruise

Dr. Burkett recently returned from the MARSSAM PI Training cruise. If you want to see what the expedition was all about check out the blog here

Alvin Cruise

What a busy summer! In addition to the normal travel with family, Dr. B went on an expedition verifying the scientific abilities of the deep-sea submersible ALVIN in the Puerto Rico Trench. Check out the blog about these adventures here.

September 15th Seminar

Dr. Ashley Burkett will be presenting at the Boone Pickens School of Geology Seminar on September 15th from 1:30-2:45 in NRC207. Please feel free to attend there or on Zoom!

Colloquium_Flyer-15_September_2022.pdf

Foraminifera for the Win! — NDSF/WHOI Deep Sea Feature

Podcasts

Check out the podcast Dr. Tessin and I did about our time on the Joides Resolution! https://bit.ly/sciodstorycorps

 Alvin and the Dinosaurs was a podcost featuring Dr. Burkett that aired on Jan 10th 2023. 

Check it out at https://pokespodcas.podbean.com/?s=Ashley%20Burkett

Publications

Publications

Burkett A.M., **Anadu J., Holzmann M., Pawlowski J., Pratt R.B., Rathburn A.E. (2025) Adhaerentella dendrocoronam gen. and sp nov: an Attached Monothalamid Foraminifera from the Abyssal Pacific. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.70045 

Burkett, A.M. Life on Plastics: Deep-Sea Foraminiferal Colonization Patterns and Reproductive Morphology (2025). Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 13, 1597. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13081597 

*Ford, T., Burkett, A.M., (2025). Mg/Ca heterogeneity in the benthic foraminifera Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and Uvigerina peregrina. Marine Geology, 484,107534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107534 

Burkett, A.M., Willingham, J., Rathburn, A., Schmidt, S., De Deckker, P. (2025). The Ecology of Deep-sea Benthic Foraminifera on the southern and southeastern Australian Margin. Micropaleontology, 71(4), p307-334. https://doi.org/10.47894/mpal.71.4.01 

Burkett, A. M., Huber, B.T., Young, J.R., Katz, M.E., Borrelli, C., Fung, M.K., de Mello, R.M., Kochhann, K.G., Dameron, S.N., Thomas, E., & Alegret, L. (2024). BFORAMS@ MIKROTAX: AN Online Database for Deep-Sea Benthic Foraminiferal Taxonomy. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 54(4), 394-403.https://doi.org/10.61551/gsjfr.54.4.394 

Burkett, A.M., Rathburn, A. E., Acevedo, A. G., Acevedo, C. G., & Ezpeleta, J. (2023). Foraminiferal population dynamics on elevated plastic substrates and in sediments at 4000 m in the Eastern Pacific. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 723, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14432 

Lu, W., Rickaby, R.E., Hoogakker, B.A., Rathburn, A.E., Burkett, A.M., Dickson, A.J., Martínez-Méndez, G., Hillenbrand, C.D., Zhou, X., Thomas, E., & Lu, Z. (2020). I/Ca in epifaunal benthic foraminifera: A semi-quantitative proxy for bottom water oxygen in a multi-proxy compilation for glacial ocean deoxygenation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 533, 116055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.116055 

Burkett, A.M., Rathburn, A., Pratt, R.B., & Holzmann, M. (2020). Insights into the ecology of epibenthic calcareous foraminifera from a colonization study at 4000 m (Station M) in the NE Pacific Ocean. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 173, 104709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104709 

Rathburn, A.E., Willingham, J., Ziebis, W., Burkett, A.M., & Corliss, B.H. (2018). A New biological proxy for deep-sea paleo-oxygen: Pores of epifaunal benthic foraminifera. Nature: Scientific reports, 8(1), 9456. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27793-4 

Venturelli, R.A., Rathburn, A.E., Burkett, A.M., & Ziebis, W. (2018). Epifaunal foraminifera in an infaunal World: Insights into the influence of heterogeneity on the benthic ecology of oxygen-poor, deep-sea habitats. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 344. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00344 

Burkett, A.M., Rathburn, A.E., Pérez, M.E., & Martin, J.B. (2018). Influences of thermal and fluid characteristics of methane and hydrothermal seeps on the stable oxygen isotopes of living benthic foraminifera. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 93, 344-355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.02.037 

Burkett, A.M., Rathburn, A.E., Pérez, M.E., Levin, L.A., & Martin, J.B. (2016). Colonization of over a thousand Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi (foraminifera: Schwager, 1866) on artificial substrates in seep and adjacent off-seep locations in dysoxic, deep-sea environments. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 117, 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2016.08.011

Social Media

What can #foraminifera tell us about the impact of plastic on the deep sea? @okstate professor @aburkett14 just deployed a new experiment 5,000 meters deep with #HOVALVIN to find out. #Alvin6500 #NSFfunded @NSF @USNavyResearch @oceanexplorer @unols https://t.co/zgO4hrzmOk pic.twitter.com/6W0ZKb7q7q

— Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) (@WHOI) August 4, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Foram models curing after printing.

A post shared by Ashley Burkett (@ashleyburkett14) on Aug 9, 2019 at 2:53pm PDT 

Even #plastics in the deepest parts of the #ocean can provide materials #BenthicForaminifera seem to find acceptable for inhabiting. What lasting impacts might these plastics have in the largest habitat on the planet?https://t.co/ZYR4DcE8zE pic.twitter.com/gVzvY4tnwl

— Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) (@MEPS_IR) November 28, 2023