Plankton Ecology and Ocean Health

Our goal is to advance the knowledge of the marine pelagic ecosystem, promote novel research and foster social awareness of the significance of protecting oceans health, for the benefit of human health and well-being. On one hand, our research focuses on studying the structure and dynamics of plankton, which forms the basis of marine trophic networks, its response to environmental and anthropogenic disturbances (global warming, stratification, acidification, turbulence, atmospheric deposition, continental runoff, pollution -including plastics-) and its role in the cycling of key chemical elements in the ocean. On the other hand, we study the impacts of certain human activities (tourism, renewable energies, fishing) on ecosystem goods and services. For all this, we use a wide range of laboratory techniques, innovative experimental and field approaches, time series monitoring, remote sensing data analysis and computational models. We wish to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the marine planktonic ecosystem and explore solutions to reduce the impacts of the Blue Economy on the oceans.