Abstract:
Microbes are the main engines driving the elemental cycles in the marine environments. In this presentation I will introduce and summarize the research that my lab group has done. I will then expand on specific examples of current research we are performing on the ecology and the biogeochemical role of marine microbes in marine, including marine bacteria and pelagic fungi. This will include research topic such as the phylogenetic and functional diversity of microbes below the Antarctic Ice Shelfs, to a novelly discovered group of bacteria that dominate sulphur oxidation in the global deep ocean, to the unrecognised role of pelagic fungi in the marine elemental cycles. To finish I will briefly talk about my research vision and perspectives.
Bio:
Dr. Federico Baltar is an Associate Professor of the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Vienna, Austria. Dr. Federico Baltar’s research interests are in biological oceanography integrating marine microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Dr. Federico Baltar’s research group studies the factors that control the functioning of oceanic microbes to get a mechanistic understanding of this microbial engine today, and predict how it might change in the future ocean. Dr. Federico Baltar received his PhD in 2010 and has an outstanding publication record, comprising >86 publications in peer-reviewed international journals. As a single principal investigator applicant, Dr. Federico Baltar has secured funding of >4 million EUR in the last 10 years. Dr. Federico Baltar’s GoogleScholar Citations number 3331 and his Hirsch index is 32. He has received several research-related awards, including among others, the 2016 Outstanding Young Scientist in Biogeosciences Award from the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand, and the 2021 JoF Youg Investigator Award.
