This webinar will feature the research of the outgoing EMB Ambassadors for 2023-2025.
Alexandra is a PhD candidate in the Marine Evolutionary Ecology group at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany, where she investigates local adaptation to various stressors in Baltic Sea copepods to assess how populations might react to a future changing ocean. After graduating from high school, Alexandra volunteered for a year in nature conservation at the German Wadden Sea coast. She obtained her BSc from the University of Rostock with a guest semester at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She completed her Master studies in Biological Oceanography at GEOMAR. She also has a passion for ocean themed art and shares her work on exhibitions and social media. In her talk, Alexandra takes you on her research journey to explore how marine copepods survive and adapt to low salinity. Using physiological measurements and transcriptomics, she investigates if the copepod Acartia tonsa has locally adapted to the Baltic Sea’s challenging conditions, revealing the mechanisms behind its resilience—and what this means for marine life in a changing ocean.
Riwan Leroux is a researcher in aquatic ecology with a PostDoc position at the Deep-Sea laboratory (BEEP) at IFREMER, France. He works with Marjolaine Matabos and Jozée Sarrazin on evaluating the impact of research activities on hydrothermal vent fields. After a PhD in Canada, where he worked in trophic ecology and specialized in big data analysis, he chose the deep sea to unravel the impact of human activities in these remote areas. His PROTECT project, standing for “impact indicators in a deeP-sea maRine prOtecTed arEa and reCommendations for management”, is at the interplay between research and public policy support to co-construct management strategies. He is also a member of the Deep Sea and Ocean Health working group. Riwan is delving in the deep Ocean in hydrothermal vent ecosystems. At the Lucky Strike vent field, discovered 30 years ago, he will show that the scientific research itself is currently the main anthropogenic stressor. Buiding on extensive archival data, he has identified and quantified these pressures, paving the way for ecological impact assessment protocols in the deep sea.
You can register for the webinar here, and it will also be live-streamed on the EMB YouTube Channel.