Biological Oceanography
in a Changing Ocean

The e-IMPACT project team, composed of members from research groups at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), and the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), held their final project meeting to discuss the results obtained during two research cruises carried out in 2022. The main goal of the project was to study the linkage in the dynamics of mesoscale and sub-mesoscale processes occurring along the life history of cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies in the Canary Eddy Corridor, and their effects on the structure and metabolism of the planktonic community, as well as their role in the vertical carbon flux to the deep ocean. We would like to acknowledge the scientific collaboration from foreign research centers: the Université Aix-Marseille, MIO, IRD, France; the University of Vienna, Austria; GEOMAR, Germany; and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The Biological Oceanography Group (GOB) participated in a study lead by the Institut de Ciències Mar from the Consejo Superior de Investigación Científica (ICM-CSIC) to determine the mechanisms that structure the smallest plankton communities across the oceans. 

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Read more here.

As part of work for her thesis, our PhD candidate Laura Marin-Samper, along with researchers from the Biological Oceanography Group (GOB), the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, have shared their latest work: "Assessing the impact of CO2 equilibrated ocean alkalinity enhancement on microbial metabolic rates in an oligotrophic system". 

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It is currently open for discussion and you can access it through this link.

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This week, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and the University of Georgia (UGA) have launched their summer glider mission ESTOC2023_3 as part of their seasonal ocean-observing program in the Canary Islands with the collaboration of the FLUCARO Project. 

FLUCARO, an infrastructure project financed by the Canarian Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI) and the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER), has allowed the installation of an Underwater Vision Profiler 6 (UVP6), an imaging sensor of particle size spectra and plankton, in the SeaExplorer glider operated by PLOCAN.  

The glider will carry out a section you can follow live! It will collect important oceanographic data that will aid the assessment of the surrounding perimeter of the ESTOC Station, which will complement the time series generated by the ESTOC mooring.

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Read more here.​

Recent proliferation of the cyanobacteria Trichodesmium in local, and highly frequented, beaches in the Canary Islands has prompted society to question the health risks associated to the blooms.

Our PI, Javier Arístegui, and our postdoctoral researcher, Beatriz Fernández, had the opportunity to be featured in local news to inform of this natural phenomena that has been aggravated by Climate Change. Trichodesmium blooms have been studied by GOB scientists for over 15 years and there is no evidence that shows that they are toxic to humans, nor that they are related to anthropogenic water contamination as in the case of sewage water.

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Read one of their statements here.

Our students Álvaro Delgado (right), from the Marine Sciences degree, and Jorge Santos (left) from the Oceanography Master's degree have successfully defended their undergrad and grad theses, respectively, both obtaining the maximum scores. They were supervised by our PI Dr. Javier Arístegui, and our post-doc, Dr. Nauzet Hernández-Hernández.

Alvaro's work, titled "Fine-scale distribution of phytoplaktonic communities and their photo-acclimation during early stages of eddy formation south of the Canary Islands", assessed data obtained during our e-IMPACT scientific cruises, in which he personally collected samples.

Jorge's work, titled "Exploring the maximum impact of nutrient fertilization on primary production in oligotrophic regions using artificial upwelling" analyzed data from artificial upwelling mesocosm experiments carried out in Gran Canaria.

Early career researchers learn about the latest methods and technologies used to measure, and model, mesopelagic respiration in the ocean on a course given by the Scientific Committee of Ocean Research (SCOR) Working Group 161 members. Read more here.

On the 13th of April, our PhD student Markel defended his thesis "Response of Prokaryotic Communities to Deep Water Upwelling". The defence ceremony took place in the auditorium of the Parque Científico Tecnológico Marino de Taliarte with the presence of the whole scientific group that was there to support him in this remarkable day of his career as a researcher. Our doctoral student gave a wonderful lecture of his thesis and was praised by the tribunal made up of Laura Alonso, Eva Ortega and María Dolores Gelado.

We are glad to announce that our PhD student Markel Gómez-Letona will be presenting his thesis. Markel joined our group more the 6 years ago, and he has participated in 8 scientific articles, being the main author for 5 of them. After focusing on phytoplankton during his bachelor and master projects, he moved on to studying oceanic prokaryotic communities, and he has also participated in ocean artificial upwelling mesocosm experiments and several oceanographic cruises.

Today we want to present his thesis titled:

Response of Prokaryotic Communities to Deep Water Upwelling

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This thesis carries out a study of prokaryotes in upwelling environments combining mesocosm experiments and large-scale field sampling, with special attention to the relationship prokaryotes show with organic matter. The first two chapters focus on the experimental study of the effect of upwelling events on the prokaryotic community of surface waters. The second half of the thesis studies in situ if the upwelling influence is limited to surface communities or if, on the contrary, it propagates to deep layers through vertical connectivity mediated by particle sinking.

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The presentation will be held this Thursday 13th of April at 11 am (UTC+1) in the auditorium located at Parque Científico Tecnológico Marino de Taliarte in Gran Canaria. For those interested in attending the event online, we have made available this link through Microsoft Teams.

An experiment on the island of Helgoland examines a potential solution for the long-term removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with the help of the ocean. In a large-scale experiment that has just begun on the island of Helgoland, a team of 30 researchers is testing to which extent the ocean is able to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. In mesocosms, free-floating closed experimental facilities, the group investigates whether the ocean can absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through the addition of slaked lime and what influence this has on plankton communities in the sea. The experiment is part of the research consortium RETAKE of the research mission “Marine carbon sinks in decarbonisation pathways” (CDRmare) of the German Marine Research Alliance (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM). The consortium aims to provide society and politics with actionable knowledge about the feasibility, potential and risks of alkalinity enhancement in a cross-disciplinary approach.

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The GOB-IOCAG has participated in the experiment through Laura Marín, PhD student of our group, studying oxygen metabolism in microbial communities.

Javier Arístegui gave a lecture on the GO2NE Webinar on Ocean Deoxygenation, entitled "Estimating dark-ocean respiration through ETS activity". The talks of the webinar are available at the IOC-UNESCO Ocean YouTube channel.

El viernes 17 de marzo tuvo lugar en la sede de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria la presentación de resultados del proyecto "Investiga en Las Canteras” en el que el GOB participa desde 2020 cuando la iniciativa se puso en marcha entre el Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria y la ULPGC. Durante la presentación en el Aula de Piedra nuestra investigadora María Fernanda Montero expuso algunas conclusiones relevantes sobre la evaluación inicial de las comunidades de microorganismos y los parámetros ambientales analizados a lo largo de 8 puntos de muestreo distribuidos en las playas de Las Canteras y El Confital. Las primeras muestras fueron tomadas en la primavera de 2020 coincidiendo con el cierre durante 44 días de las playas, una oportunidad única para tomar datos del medio marino, teniendo continuidad en la actualidad.

On Friday, March 17, the presentation of the results of the project "Investiga en Las Canteras" was held at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The group has participated since 2020, when the initiative was launched between the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University. During the presentation at Aula de Piedra, our researcher María Fernanda Montero presented some relevant conclusions about the initial evaluation of the microorganism communities and the environmental parameters analyzed throughout 8 sampling points distributed in Las Canteras and El Confital beaches. The first samples were taken in the spring of 2020 coinciding with the 44-day closure of the beaches, a unique opportunity to collect data from the marine environment, still continuing today.

Conocer de forma precisa cómo funciona el ciclo del carbono en el océano y evaluar el potencial de las intervenciones humanas en el mismo es el objetivo de Horizon Europe Ocean – ICU (Increasing Carbon Understanding), un proyecto europeo en el que participa la ULPGC a través del Grupo de Oceanografía Biológica (GOB), adscrito al Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global (IOCAG) y el Grupo de Tecnologías, Gestión y Biogeoquímica Ambiental. El proyecto está coordinado por el Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE) y reúne a 23 instituciones académicas europeas y más de 7 instituciones británicas con una duración de 5 años (2022-2027).

Esta semana los estudiantes del Máster en Oceanografía completaron sus prácticas sobre un estudio experimental desarrollado a partir de una comunidad costera de plancton. Analizaron satisfactoriamente la evolución temporal de las poblaciones con equipos de nuestros laboratorios, donde midieron la producción primaria y los diferentes grupos planctónicos.

The first meeting of the Ocean-ICU project took place in Copenhagen last week, in order to present the main work packages, coordinate the upcoming tasks and meet the lead researchers. This project will develop new knowledge on ocean carbon to underpin scenarios and decision-making in global carbon and Climate Change.

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Our PI Javier Arístegui attended the meeting with our PhD Aja Trebec, since he is coleading Work Package 4: Ecosystem Controls on Carbon Sequestration together with Stephanie Henson, and leading the task Impacts of climate stressors on surface production of biogenic matter within Work Package 3: Impacts of abiotic climate stressors (pH, O2& T) on the Biological C pump. Also, our PhD student Aja Trebec will be developing her thesis on the impact of aerosol inputs on surface biogeochemistry and plankton community composition under the influence of multi-stressors (T, pH, O2), which constitutes one of the assignments of the mentioned task.

Newly published research by Jens Hartmann on Ocean Alakilinity Enhacement, where our group collaborated. This research was conducted during the OceanNETs mesocosm experiment carried out during September 2021 in Gran Canaria. Their results indicate that using an alkaline solution instead of reactive alkaline particles can avoid carbonate formation, unless alkalinity addition via solutions shifts the system beyond critical supersaturation levels. To avoid the loss of alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from seawater, the application of reactor techniques can be considered. These techniques produce an equilibrated solution from alkaline solids and CO2 prior to application. Differing behaviours of tested materials suggest that standardized engineered materials for OAE need to be developed to achieve safe and sustainable OAE with solids, if reactors technologies should be avoided.