Research Overview

In the Anthropocene epoch, the paramount inquiry within the ocean and environmental sciences stems from the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic pollution on ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical cycles. In MPREL (Marine Plankton Research Laboratory), with the undergoing shifts, our central focus revolves around the role of tiny microbial organisms in marine ecosystems. Our research encompasses the seasonal and long-term alterations in marine eukaryotic and prokaryotic algae, extending to the interactions of microbes with multicellular organisms in upper trophic levels and within microbial food webs, with an emphasis on the role of nutrients in the plankton ecology and ecosystem functioning. To conduct ecological and physiological studies on plankton, we employ a spectrum of techniques, including conventional, modern, and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) methodologies.