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My principal research interests lie in the field of microbial plankton ecology, physiology and the role of the bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton on the marine carbon cycling. I have worked on the coupling, or uncoupling, between primary production and respiration processes and the influence of the community structure and environmental variables, such as temperature and dissolved organic matter, on the metabolic balance. My recent projects have involved research cruises, as well as microcosm and mesocosm experiments in the laboratory with cultured bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton organisms and natural plankton communities.
Career
2019–present: Principal investigator: Phytoplankton dynamics. National Oceanography Centre, UK
2017–2019: Senior Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of East Anglia, UK
2016–2017: Visiting Postdoctoral Research Assistant, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science Xiamen University, China
2014–2016: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of East Anglia, UK
2013: Ph.D Marine Science and Ecology, University of Vigo, Spain
2011–2013: Research Associate, University of Vigo, Spain
Fieldwork Experience (selected cruises, >40 weeks at sea)
Bio-Carbon (2024): Iceland Basin (North Atlantic)
Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (2014–2015): Celtic Sea
Atlantic Meridional Transect (2010 & 2011): from UK to Punta Arenas (Chile)
ICE-CHASER II (2010): North Atlantic – from UK to Fram Strait and Greenland Sea
Current MSc and PhD students
Luyao Yen (2025), MSc Thesis: Phytoplankton competition in the Arctic under warming conditions
Previous PDRA
Dr Florence Atherden (National Oceanography Centre – 2023)
Previous MSc and PhD students
George Wallbridge (2024), MSc Thesis: Phytoplankton at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain: species, community, structure and export
James Gallagher (PhD student National Oceanography Centre – University of Southampton, 2022–2023)
Dominic Dennis (PhD student, University of East Anglia, 2022–) working on the synthesis of fluororescent tetrazolium salts
Emily Condie (2021), MSc Thesis: Effects of the dissolved organic matter leached from plastic on plankton metabolism
I welcome enquiries from potential MSc and PhD students.
You can also find me on ORCID (0000-0003-4807-3287) and my personal Twitter account is @e_garciamartin
Current
Coordinator of the Arctic for BIOPOLE programme
NOC Research Ethic and Integrity representative
Past
I have held several research and teaching responsibilities including member of Health and Safety Committee, Symposium committee organiser, scientific reviewer, undergraduate module organiser, and Co-chair/ Secretary and Treasurer of a Oceanography Professional Society (https://oceanografas.gal).
UKRI Talent Peer Review College member
Current projects
PARTIcle Transformation and Respiration Influence on ocean Carbon Storage (PARTITRICS) is a project from the BIO-CARBON programme (https://bio-carbon.ac.uk), which aims to improve understanding of the processes that affect the rate and depth of respiration in sinking particles.
Biogeochemical processes and ecosystem function in changing polar systems and their global impacts (BIOPOLE) is a 5 year project (2022&ndaash;2027) funded by NERC. The aim of the project is to examine biogeochemical processes and ecosystem function in polar ecosystems https://biopole.ac.uk
Past Projects
Current and Future Effects of Microplastics on Marine Shelf Ecosystems (MINIMISE) is a NERC funded project (2019-2023) which aim is to develop the use of highly sensitive bio-imaging techniques to visualise microplastics within living tissuesfor tracing how microplastics move between prey animals and their predators
Land Ocean CArbon TransfEr (LOCATE) was a multidisciplinary national-scaled project funded by NERC, in which main objective was to quantify the transport of terrigenous organic matter from soils to the ocean, with a special focus on rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. https://www.locate.ac.uk
Monitoring Anthropogenic Particles and Plankton using citizen Science (MAPPS) was a UK national-scale project funded by NERC-UKRI and the Royal Society with the main aim to increase the observations on the abundance of anthropogenic particles and plankton composition and their spatial variability in different aquatic environments such as rivers, lakes and coastal waters. To achieve this goal, 21 citizen scientists were trained in the use of PlanktoScope, an ultra-low-cost microscopic imaging device.
REMineralisation of organic carbon by marine bActerIoplanktoN: reducing the known unknown (REMAIN) is a NERC funded project (2017-2022) which aim is to determine how the contribution of bacterioplankton respiration to microbial community respiration varies with plankton community structure and dissolved organic matter. https://www.remainproject.com
Marine bacterioplankton respiration: a critical unknown in global carbon budgets is a Leverhulme project (2017–2022) that investigate the role of plankton respiration in carbon sequestration and the production of CO2 with especial emphasis on the contribution of marine bacteria to the total plankton respiration.
Fluorometric Tetrazolium Salt/Formazan Assays for Histochemistry and Biomedical Applications was a NERC Innovation proposal which aim was to develop a novel fluorometric assay which could be used to evaluate the potential of newly developed drugs and to quantify plankton respiration
CArbon/Nutrient DYnamics and FLuxes Over Shelf Systems (CANDYFLOSS), a project part of the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry consortium funded by NERC and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The aim of the research is to reduce the uncertainty in our understanding of nutrient and carbon cycling within the shelf seas, and of their role in global biogeochemical cycles.https://www.uk-ssb.org
Scaling, monitoring and predicting marine plankton metabolism in a changing ocean (SCALAR) a MICINN (Spanish Government) funded project which studies the functional relation between community structure and metabolism, and the scaling rules and controls that connect plankton community metabolism to biogeochemical processes.