Experience

Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences

• Germany
• Government Administration
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Leader DFG Project 'ViTMeD'

  • Sep 2017 - Present

  Vast regions of the world’s ocean, including the Southern Ocean (SO) consist of high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) areas. Rather than macronutrients such as nitrate, micronutrients such as trace metals (TM) and vitamins limit primary production and shape plankton community composition. While concentrations of TMs, ‘new’ TM inputs and to a lesser extend TM removal processes by the plankton/particles have been extensively studied in the last three decades surprisingly little is known about the role of in situ rate processes such as recycling/grazing in replenishing the bioavailable TM pools. In addition while the importance of vitamins for SO phytoplankton communities has recently been highlighted, to date, no vitamin concentration or utilization/removal rates data exist for the SO. Also, vitamin production rates have never been assessed for any marine system. How do rates of TMs/vitamins recycling/production compare to removal processes and how important is grazing in contributing to bioavailable TMs? Will climate change, higher pCO2 and the resulting less alkaline ocean favor recycling due to changes in TM chemistry and/or biological responses? To answer these questions a novel mass balance approach to measure in situ recycling rates of the three ecological TMs iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and cobalt (Co) as well as production/recycling rates of vitamins in different SO plankton communities will be explored. In addition, field and laboratory experiments will examine the relative importance of grazing on the pico- and nanoplankton community by higher trophic levels on these rates and investigate how ocean acidification may affect these recycling processes. Together this data will fill in a large gap in TM/vitamin research and provide vital data for global ocean models on the cycling of vitamins, iron and other ecologically relevant TMs under present and future climatic conditions.



Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

• Germany
• Research Services
• 400 - 500 Employee

• Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Sep 2014 - Aug 2017

  My research focuses on the role that macronutrients such as nitrogen, trace metals such as iron, cobalt and zinc as well as organic cofactors such as vitamins have in shaping the plankton community composition. This includes investigating processes such as production and uptake using tracers to gain a better understanding of nutrient cycling in marine systems. I am also interested how anthropogenic influences (CO2, eutrophication) shape these interactions. My research focuses on the role that macronutrients such as nitrogen, trace metals such as iron, cobalt and zinc as well as organic cofactors such as vitamins have in shaping the plankton community composition. This includes investigating processes such as production and uptake using tracers to gain a better understanding of nutrient cycling in marine systems. I am also interested how anthropogenic influences (CO2, eutrophication) shape these interactions.



Stony Brook University

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Post Doctoral Researcher

  • Aug 2012 - Aug 2014

  Research, grant writing, teaching Research, grant writing, teaching



Stony Brook Southampton University

• PhD Student

  • Aug 2006 - May 2012

  Research Research



The State University of New York

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Research Assistant/PhD Student

  • Jun 2006 - May 2012

  PhD PhD



Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies

• Tiburon, CA

• Graduate Student Researcher

  • 2002 - 2005

  Research Research