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Andreia Rebotim
Report of GLOMAR PhD student Andreia Rebotim about her participation in the SCOR/IGBP Working Group 138: Final Workshop & Short Course on Culturing of Planktonic Foraminifera in Santa Catalina Island, California, USA from 30 August – 4 September 2015
Thanks to GLOMAR I had the great opportunity to attend to the “SCOR WG138 Final Workshop and Short Course on Culturing of Planktonic Foraminifera in Wringley Marine Science Center in Catalina Island (California, USA) from August 30th – September 4th, 2015.
The SCOR WG138 is a working group of specialists in planktonic foraminifera, whose objective is to synthetize and disseminate the existing knowledge and thecniques on biology, ecology, physiology and calcification these organisms. Therefore, throughout the workshop, we had review lectures and talks concerning all these subjects. During the afternoons, we had the chance to put the hands on living planktonic foraminifera, handle and feed them. In the laboratory sessions, we observed these “beautiful tiny creatures” in detail (symbionts, spines, and chambers) and learned how they are cultivated. Afterwards, there was always some free time to explore this fantastic island, which is also a natural reserve, and increase my scientific network by doing a variety of recreational and social activities.
At this point of the PhD I am preparing a paper which focuses on the species depth habitat of planktonic foraminifera in the Northeast Atlantic. Therefore, when presenting my poster, it was very motivating to hear the feedback from experts of this field, researchers and students like me and to discuss with them.
In the last day, there was a discussion session concerning the future research priorities for planktonic foraminifera. Regarding this, there are still a lot of questions to answer and still a lot to investigate, which motivates me to continue my research on this field.
The SCOR WG138 is a working group of specialists in planktonic foraminifera, whose objective is to synthetize and disseminate the existing knowledge and thecniques on biology, ecology, physiology and calcification these organisms. Therefore, throughout the workshop, we had review lectures and talks concerning all these subjects. During the afternoons, we had the chance to put the hands on living planktonic foraminifera, handle and feed them. In the laboratory sessions, we observed these “beautiful tiny creatures” in detail (symbionts, spines, and chambers) and learned how they are cultivated. Afterwards, there was always some free time to explore this fantastic island, which is also a natural reserve, and increase my scientific network by doing a variety of recreational and social activities.
At this point of the PhD I am preparing a paper which focuses on the species depth habitat of planktonic foraminifera in the Northeast Atlantic. Therefore, when presenting my poster, it was very motivating to hear the feedback from experts of this field, researchers and students like me and to discuss with them.
In the last day, there was a discussion session concerning the future research priorities for planktonic foraminifera. Regarding this, there are still a lot of questions to answer and still a lot to investigate, which motivates me to continue my research on this field.
