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In my research I focus on the impact of climate change on biodiversity in marine pelagic food webs. I am interested how biodiversity patterns and species interactions affect ecosystem productivity and elements cycling between trophic levels.
Aleksandra's Google Scholar profile
Aleksandra's Twitter: @planktola
Aleksandra's contact and research profile in the UH People Finder
My research interest is understanding the response of phytoplankton community to environmental changes. I am specifically interested how environmental changes affect phytoplankton interactions, community composition and ecological functions.
I am looking at the potential effects of salinity to the phytoplankton community using trait-based approach. I investigate traits distribution in the phytoplankton community at different salinity levels and to determine which groups are more likely to be benefitted by the freshening of the Baltic Sea and how the shift in phytoplankton composition will affect their ecological functions.
My main research interests are in understanding the response of plankton food webs to environmental change and in the related development of sustainable marine management strategies.
I am using a combination of mesocosm experiments and in-field measurements to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying changes in natural plankton communities. Specifically, I am investigating (1) how salinity change influences cyanobacteria growth and how this will impact higher trophic levels, (2) how salinity change influences plankton community composition and diversity, and (3) how the combined effect of temperature and salinity change influences food web interactions.
I am an environmental change masters student interested in applying my passion for algal morphology and evolution to solving sustainability challenges. My masters thesis project focuses on the effects of different salinity levels on phytoplankton community nutrient acquisition traits.
I am interested in marine microbial ecology, how interactions within the microbial loop are affected by climate change and what implications possible changes in food web dynamics within the microbial loop could have for the flux of energy or the carbon cycle in the marine ecosystem.
Kianna Gallagher, Visiting MSc student (2020)
Justin Tierney, Visiting MSc Student (2019)
Clio Hall, Visiting MSc Student (2018)