 Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y de la Atmósfera (CIMA) Pabellon II 2do Piso C1428EGA Ciudad Universitaria Buenos Aires, Argentina p: +54 11 4787 2693 f: +54 11 4787 3572 Current Research
The main goal of my research it to improve the understanding of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus global abundance and distribution. Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are two photosynthetic bacteria responsible for a large fraction on marine primary production. These bacteria thrive in warm waters and an increase in ocean temperature can expand their distribution towards polar areas. A global shift from large-fast-sinking phytoplankton to small-buoying Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus can reduce C exports to deep ocean and increase C release to the atmosphere through respiration in surface waters. A good estimation of the abundance and distribution of these bacteria is key to understand their impact on biogeochemical cycles. To estimate the global abundance of these bacteria, together with Adam Martiny, we compiled all available field samples thanks to the contribution of more than 70 scientists around the world. My analysis will allow to predict bacterial abundance based on environmental variables such as temperature, light, nitrogen and phosphorus. We are looking for more data! This re-analysis of existing data is more powerful the larger the dataset. We are currently using almost 50.000 observations and planning to incorporate more soon. If you have some data of marine abundance of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus I would love to hear about it. Handling of data is in consent with authors and avoids any interference with the primary author interests. Contributors are due credited. Are you interested in doing research at University of Buenos Aires? I am looking for students interested in ecology, oceanography, and/or climate change to collaborate in the Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus global abundance project. Students will learn the generalities of this project, and to handle and analyze large datasets. Students will be seated at the Department of Atmosphere and Ocean Sciences of the School of Science and participate in paper discussion and department seminars. If you are interested, please send me an email. Main collaborators Adam C. Martiny - University of California Irvine [web] Daniele Vaneziano - MIT [web] Claudio Menendez - CIMA / University of Buenos Aires [web] Undergraduate Students María Florencia de Azkue - University of Buenos Aires Florencia is a second year student of oceanography Sebastián Vargas - University of Buenos Aires Sebastián is a second year student of oceanography Lina Zabala - University of Buenos Aires Lina is a biology student almost ready to graduate Rodolfo Gordillo - University of California Irvine Rodolfo is developing an animation of bacteria distribution change for the globe. He is a Computer Science student at UCI graduating very soon! José Rincón - University of California Irvine Graduated in Computer Science in 2009. He is currently teaching High School students in CA José Luis Gallegos - University of California Irvine Graduated in Computer Science in 2009. He is currently a PhD student at UC Santa Barbara Publications 4 P. Flombaum and O. E. Sala, 2009. Cover is a good predictor of biomass in arid systems. Journal of Arid Environments (73) 597-598 [pdf] 3 P. Flombaum and O. E. Sala, 2008. Higher effect of plant species diversity on productivity in natural than artificial ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (105) 6087-6090 [pdf] 2 P. A. Cipriotti, P. Flombaum, O. E. Sala, and M. R. Aguiar, 2008. Does drought control emergence and survival of grass seedlings in semi-arid rangelands? An example with a Patagonian species. Journal of Arid Environments (72) 162-174 [pdf] 1 P. Flombaum and O. E. Sala, 2007. A non-destructive and rapid method to estimate biomass and aboveground net primary production in arid steppes. Journal of Arid Environments (69) 352-358 [pdf] |