Biological Oceanography
in a Changing Ocean

The ULPGC hosts the National Meeting of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks in Spain 

The event, held on December 11 and 12, 2025, under the theme "Knowledge/Action/Territory", brought together representatives of UNESCO Chairs from Spanish universities. The agenda included discussions on the challenges of higher education, the impact of the knowledge generated by the Chairs on aspects such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - with particular emphasis on climate action, and the need to continue building synergies.

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Our professor, Javier Arístegui, who holds the country’s only chair focused on the ocean, delivered a highly regarded presentation entitled “The Oceans as an Ally Against Climate Change,” which stimulated reflection and active participation among the attendees.

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More on the event here and here.

Learning how to assess marine plankton community respiration

During the past couple of weeks, we had the pleasure of hosting Yixue Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher from the group of Prof. Wu Ying at the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC), East China Normal University, in Shanghai, China. Yixue is being mentored by Javier Arístegui through the SCOR Working Group ReMO mentoring program. She visited our laboratory to learn methods for analyzing marine plankton community respiration.
Along with other biological parameters — such as chlorophyll a, phytoplankton community structure, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) — Yixue collected seawater samples during oceanographic cruises conducted between September and December 2023 in the Indian Ocean. Her aim is to analyze the enzymatic respiratory activity of the electron transport system (ETS), a complex of proteins in the inner mitochondrial membrane involved in aerobic respiration, from microbial organisms retained on filters.

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This work will help improve our understanding of the functioning and metabolic state of the Indian Ocean—specifically, whether the surface ocean behaved as a heterotrophic or autotrophic system during the study period.

Removing carbon dioxide through a mesocosm study on the east of Gran Canaria

In collaboration with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias (PLOCAN) and as part of the Ocean-CDR project, we joined our fellow colleagues to study the impact of ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) on oligotrophic waters east of Gran Canaria.

Over the past month and a half, our PhD student Jana Piñel and Erasmus visiting students Lilly-Mo Kuhn and Judith Zelenka, contributed to assessing the effects of OAE using rock powder versus slurry additions of calcium hydroxide on microbial plankton communities and production.

CO2 removal strategies are a novel field in the ocean sciences. Understanding the consequences of dissolving alkaline minerals in the seawater in different marine ecosystems will help us determine whether this strategy can be safely used to mitigate rising atmospheric CO2 levels.

Hosting a Student workshop on ocean-based carbon dioxide removals funded by OceanCDR

Ocean-CDR, a partnering project between the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, the Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias (PLOCAN) and the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) held a student workshop on ocean-based carbon dioxide removals (CDRs).

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The event program featured presentations from specialists on climate change, various marine CDR strategies, and the role of NGOs in this emerging field. The audience included students from ULPGC and GEOMAR, and the event took place at the Parque Científico Tecnológico Marino de Taliarte, home of the Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global (IOCAG). Further, the event was moderated by our PhD student, Laura Marín-Samper, and introduced by Prof. Javier Arístegui, who gave an overview of the climate context and CDR's potential.

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Visit the Ocean-CDR project here

New paper on the comparison of in-situ and satellite-based methods of primary production.

Along with measurements of chlorophyll a concentration and phytoplankton biomass , this study presents in situ measurements of primary production (PP) using four different methods:  ¹⁴C uptake and ¹3C isotope tracing, as well as O₂ and ¹⁸O₂ evolution inside incubation bottles. These measurements were conducted  across the transition zone from the coastal Canary Eastern Boundary Upwelling System (CanEBUS) to the open ocean waters of the Cape Verde Frontal Zone. We compared these four in situ methods to assess their consistency and to evaluate the performance of four satellite-based net primary production (NPP) models across a productivity gradient. Among the in situ techniques, the strongest correlation was observed between the ¹⁴C and ¹⁸O₂ estimates. Satellite algorithms based on chlorophyll concentration provided more accurate NPP estimates than those based on phytoplankton biomass. However, a major limitation of these satellite models is their inaccuracy in estimating key parameters such as phytoplankton growth rate and assimilation numbers.

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Read the paper here

PLOCAN in collaboration with GOB-IOCAG (ULPGC), launches a new glider mission as part of the seasonal ocean observation program in the Canary Islands.

This week, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) has launched the first 2025 glider mission of their seasonal ocean-observing program in the Canary Islands. 

After a few months of technical shutdown for glider repair and calibration, the SeaExplorer was put back in the ocean for the summer mission (ESTOC2025_1) on the morning of July 14. As in previous occasions, the mission will perform a south-north section from Gran Canaria to the ESTOC station, and will return to Gran Canaria via the west coast of Fuerteventura. 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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In addition, FLUCARO, an infrastructure project financed by ACIISI and FEDER, has allowed the installation of two UVP6 units: one on the glider and a second on the ESTOC mooring (see our previous news for more info). These instruments will enable the study of particles and plankton dynamics on seasonal and annual scales.

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Follow the glider live at this link​

Our student Adriana Socorro successfully defended her undergrad theses

Adriana Socorro successfully defended her undergraduate thesis (TFG) in Marine Sciences at the Faculty of Marine Science, ULPGC. Her work was supervised by GOB members Dr. Ana Fernández Carrera and Dr. Nauzet Hernández Hernández. Titled "Environmental Controls on Phytoplankton Community Structure in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean," Adriana’s thesis explores how environmental conditions influence the distribution of phytoplankton in the Equatorial Atlantic. She employed three complementary techniques for plankton analysis—flow cytometry, optical imaging (PlanktoScope), and pigment analysis (CHEMTAX)—which enabled her to study the full phytoplankton community. The research was based on data collected during the M181 expedition in 2022 aboard the R/V Meteor.

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Connecting science with society at the FIMAR 2025

From the 6th to the 8th of June,  Laura Marín, Jana Piñel, Aja Trebec, Mathieu Vasey, and María F. Montero, from the Biological Oceanography Group (GOB), along with other colleagues from the Institute of Oceanography and Global Change (IOCAG), connected marine science with the public at the “Feria Internacional del Mar” 2025 (FIMAR). Children, young people and adults stopped by to learn about the different fields of biological, chemical and physical oceanography.

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Our group presented several lines of research that encompass a range of pressing topics in ocean and climate science: the biological carbon pump, with particular focus on meso- and submesoscale processes; the impacts of climate multistressors, such as atmospheric aerosol deposition; the monitoring of coastal water quality through the study of harmful algal blooms; the effects of extreme events in the ocean on the resilience of marine ecosystems; and the potential of ocean-based negative emission technologies to mitigate climate change. Sharing these lines of research with the public - reflecting our interdisciplinary approach and commitment to advancing understanding of the ocean’s role in the Earth system - was truly a rewarding experience.

The ULPGC honored the GOBAA for its excellent research and its coordinator, Professor Javier Arístegui, for his outstanding career in research.

Each year, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) acknowledges the research talent cultivated within its academic institution. In this edition, the awards were presented in three categories, and the GOB was awarded in two of them: Recognized Research Groups and Individual Research Careers. These awards acknowledge the research contributions of groups whose research endeavors exemplify exceptional impact on the University's research productivity and advancement. Individual recognition is granted according to criteria such as the interest and relevance of their activity, their contribution to knowledge, and their scientific and technical quality.

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Javier Arístegui thanked the ULPGC for the recognition of his Research Career, as well as the recognition of Scientific Productivity of the GOBAA (Biological Oceanography and Applied Algology Group). In his speech he also recalled and thanked the members who have been part of the group throughout its history, many of them developing great scientific and professional careers in the public and private spheres.

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Read more in ULPGC's page

Researchers from our group attend the OceanICU Annual Science Meeting in Sopot, Poland

Our Principal Investigator, Javier Arístegui, and our PhD student, Aja Trebec, attended the third OceanICU Annual Science Meeting held at the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences to share their work and explore future steps with the rest of the consortium.

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Unlike past meetings, this year’s included workshops and stimulating activities that allowed our colleagues to connect and engage with the broader project community, providing valuable opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange and interdisciplinary dialogue. At the midpoint of the OceanICU project, its members have made significant progress to address key challenges related to understanding ocean carbon and the biological carbon pump. Yet, the upcoming years will be especially critical in integrating all components of the project into a coherent framework that can deliver impactful and policy-related results.

FLUCARO sediment traps recovered and redeployed at ESTOC

After 14 months of continuous operation, a mooring equipped with four sediment traps has been successfully recovered, serviced, and redeployed at the European Oceanic Time Series Station of the Canaries (ESTOC). This mooring, part of the FLUCARO project, plays a key role in monitoring the vertical flux of sinking particles in the ocean.
As part of the redeployment, the mooring was upgraded with an advanced Underwater Vision Profiler system (UVP6), which will capture images every five minutes throughout the upcoming year. This addition will enhance the capacity to characterize particle size distribution and composition in situ.
The FLUCARO project is funded by the Canarian Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI) and the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER), and is coordinated by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) in collaboration with PLOCAN.
The data gathered will provide critical insights into particle fluxes and deep-ocean carbon sequestration processes, contributing valuable information to global climate change assessments.

Navigating through the North- and Southeastern Atlantic Ocean

Our team has embarked on the RV Sarmiento de Gamboa for a month-long journey across the Atlantic Ocean as part of the OceaICU scientific cruise expedition, led by the Principal Investigator Javier Arísetgui.

Navigating through both the North- and Southeastern Atlantic Ocean, the team will investigate the ocean carbon cycle and the biological carbon pump across regions characterized by varying sea surface temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, and chlorophyll a concentrations.

In addition, they will conduct aerosol addition bioassay experiments to study how atmospheric aerosol deposition influences plankton communities by using lithogenic aerosol sources - specifically Saharan dust and Namibian dust, which are known to deposit in these regions - in collaboration with Catarina Guerreiro and Jan-Berend Stuut.

 GOB and students from ULPGC visited the R/V Pelagia during its stay in Gran Canaria.

Professor Jan-Berend Stuut (Netherlands Institute for Research, NIOZ)  welcomed GOB and  ULPGC students aboard the R/V Pelagia after  completing their lastest oceanography cruise across the subtropical North Atlantic. The cruise was part of a long-term study investigating the influence of Saharan dust deposition -a key factor in Earth’s climate and ocean productivity. Students from the Master’s in Oceanography program  had a valuable opportunity to learn about the ongoing work involving buoys and sediment traps deployed and recovered in the Atlantic Ocean

GOB contributes to a new study about the Time of Emergence (ToE) of marine fish biomass using a climate-to-fish ensemble simulation

Climate change will significantly impact global marine fish biomass, leading ecosystems into unprecedented states. The ToE is when such a shift occurs. This study investigates the ToE of marine fish biomass using climate‐to‐fish simulations. The results suggest that the emergence of global mean fish biomass occurs in the historical period (before 2020) and is controlled by small size organisms (mesozooplankton) through food availability. It also shows that the ToE strongly depends on organism size and varies regionally. Furthermore, it demonstrates that implementing mitigation policies significantly reduces the areas where marine ecosystems emerge, thereby limiting the potential negative impacts

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Read the paper here

New paper on coastal eutrophication: impact on plankton community under CO2 depletion

Population growth in coastal tourist areas is leading to enhanced waste production, raising concerns about potential nutrient release increases and the resulting impact on marine ecosystems through eutrophication. With the aim of assessing the effects of nutrient input on biomass, primary production (PP) and recycling processes by phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacterioplankton, we simulated three nutrient discharge intensities (Low, Medium, and High), with daily additions of 0.1, 1, and 10 μmol L− 1 of nitrate, respectively, along with phosphate and silicate. We observed that PP, chlorophyll a (Chl-a), and biomass increased linearly with nutrient input, except in the High treatment, where CO2 depletion (<1.0 μmol L− 1) and an alkalinity increase (>2500 μmol L− 1) resulted in reduced PP. Under CO2 depletion, diatoms experienced a decline in the High treatment, leading to the proliferation of potentially mixotrophic dinoflagellates. Our findings provide valuable insights into the responses of plankton communities to varying nutrient inputs and emphasize the importance of considering the effects of CO2 depletion, along with changes in total alkalinity, in eutrophication scenarios as well as in ocean alkalinity enhancement experiments aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

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Read the paper here

New paper on prokaryotic succession across contrasting phytoplankton blooms

We have studied the successional dynamics of free-living and particle-associated communities in eight simulated upwelling scenarios of varying intensity and duration (single vs. recurring pulses) by adding nutrient-rich mesopelagic waters into large-scale mesocosms containing oligotrophic surface waters from the subtropical North Atlantic. We observed that despite differences in activity, prokaryotes seemed to be more influenced by processes taking place within the community than by phytoplankton bloom patterns, with similar succession dynamics even under widely distinct blooms. These findings can help advance our understanding on prokaryotic ecology and its relation to organic matter cycling across different upwelling scenarios.

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Read the paper here.