Vera Thoss is a lecturer in chemistry at the School of Chemistry, Bangor University. Her interests are in environmental and ecological chemistry, using a variety of analytical techniques. In both environmental and ecological work the complexity of the matrix, for example plant and soil samples, and the mixture of compounds form a focus of research. Often projects are of an interdisciplinary nature and bridging the gap between chemistry and biology is a continuous endeavour. Published work is on diverse topics such as the smell of individual pine trees and how it affects associated ecosystem components, herbivorous studies using slugs and goats, or dissolved organic matter in natural waters.