Antarctic Seaweeds (eBook)

Seaweeds (macroalgae) represent the most striking living components in the Antarctic's near-shore ecosystems, especially across the West Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent islands. Due to their abundance, their central roles as primary producers and foundation organisms, and as sources of diverse metabolically active products, seaweed assemblages are fundamental to biogeochemical cycles in Antarctic coastal systems. In recent years, the imminence of climate change and the direct impacts of human beings, which are affecting vast regions of the Antarctic, have highlighted the importance of seaweed processes in connection with biodiversity, adaptation and interactions in the benthic network. 

Various research groups have been actively involved in the investigation of these topics. Many of these research efforts have a long tradition, while some 'newcomers' have also recently contributed important new approaches to the study of these organisms, benefiting polar science as a whole. This book provides an overview of recent advances and insights gleaned over the past several years. Focusing on a timely topic and extremely valuable resource, it assesses the challenges and outlines future directions in the study of Antarctic seaweeds.

Currently a Full Professor at the Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile and Deputy Director of the Fondap Research Center Dynamic of High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL). In 1991, Prof. Gómez completed his bachelor and MSci studies at the Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia. In 1993 he was awarded a DAAD fellowship to continue his PhD studies at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and the University of Bremen, Germany.  He subsequently pursued postdoctoral research at the Universidad de Malaga, Spain and the Alfred Wegener Institute, prior to being appointed at the Universidad Austral de Chile in 2002.  Prof. Gómez has considerable experience in the coordination of diverse research projects focused on the ecology, photobiology and physiology of seaweeds from different coastal systems, including cold-temperate and polar regions. He has participated in 11 campaigns in the Antarctic. He recently published the book 'Flora Marina Antártica: Patrimonio de Biodiversidad,' which condenses the work of many years in a format accessible to a general audience.

She is currently an Associate Professor at Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, and an Associate Investigator at the Fondap Research Center Dynamics of High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL), Chile. She received her MSc degree in Biology from the University of Joensuu and PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research activities have included stays at Department of Environmental Science and Policy and at Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California-Davis, USA, and at the Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Málaga, Spain. Since 2005, she has worked in Chile, first at the research center Centro i-mar, Universidad de los Lagos, Puerto Montt, until her appointment at the Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, in 2010. Her main research interests are related to ecophysiology and photobiology of algae, ecotoxicology, water bio-optics and recently to remote sensing applied to the study of aquatic organisms. Since 2010, she has been involved in several Antarctic research projects and field campaigns.