Subject Area
Biological Oceanography, Marine Ecology
Activities
I am interested in phytoplankton and zooplankton ecology. My experiences are focused on temporal and vertical mixoplanktonic ciliate dynamics in oligotrophic waters and their interactions with the other components of the microbial food web.
Sea regions of study
Mediterranean Sea - Eastern Basin
Aegean Sea
Skills
Partecipation in 5 major mesocosm experiments as responsible for the samples for microplankton abundance
estimation. The five mesocosm experiments were aimed at:
• The study of the effect of in-situ oil combustion on the planktonic food web in the Eastern Mediterranean
Sea;
• The study of the effect of silver nanoparticles and ions on the planktonic food web;
• The study of the reaction of osmotrophic organisms to the addition of nutrients and DOC with presence/
absence of predators;
• The study of the effect of different aerosol collected from rural and urban sites on the planktonic food web;
• The study of the effect of ocean alkalization on the planktonic food web.
Laboratory techniques of Marine Microbiology:
a) measurement of abundance and biomass of pico-, nano- and micro-planktonic organisms using optical and
inverted microscope as well as in fluorescence microscope for trophic stage recognition of microplanktonic cells
b) species level determination of ciliates, diatoms and dinoflagellates in inverted microscopy
c) measurement of abundance of viruses and pico-planktonic organisms using flow cytometry,
d) determination of microbial diversity through DNA-metabarcoding
e) determination of microbial activity by molecular techniques and techniques cultivation.
Research sampling missions and fieldwork:
until April 2021 I participated in 14 oceanographic expeditions and field samplings in the Cretan Sea (Greece)
within the framework of the MixITiN program.
