Isabel Ferrera

Fieldwork

ESMARES0823 Cruise, W Mediterranean

In August 2023, I led the ESMARES0823 cruise aboard the R/V F.P. Navarro from the Spanish Insitute of Oceanography. This cruise is part of the a monitoring program which sails the peninsular Mediterranean coastline seasonally to study nutrient pollution in some of the main points with problems or at risk of suffering eutrophication. The cruise also served to collect samples for the ECLIPSE project, aimed at improving our knowledge on the ecology of marine photoheterotrophic bacteria and their relationship with phytoplankton communities.


VULCANAIII Cruises, La Palma.

In September and October 2021, I participated in the two cruises organized by the Spanish Institute of Ocenography to monitor the effects in the marine ecosystem of the The Cumbre Vieja eruption occurred in La Palma island (Canary Islands, Spain). The cruises took place in the R/V Ramón Margalef and the R/V Ángeles Alvariño. The cruises were led by Dr. Eugenio Fraile-Nuex from the Oceanographic Center of Canary Islands.


BIOFILM Cruise, NW Mediterranean.

In September 2019, my PhD student, Carlota R. Gazulla, and I participated in a cruise aboard the German R/V POSEIDON. The cruise entitled “Biofilm-like habitat at the sea-surface: A mesocosm study” was led by Dr. Oliver Wurl from the University of Oldenburg and took place in the Balearic Sea. The cruise focused in the study of the sea surface microlayer.


POSEIDON Cruise, Atlantic Ocean.

In early 2019 I participated for the first time in a cruise from my new institution, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography. The cruise was led by Dr. Jesús M. Arrieta and took place in the R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa. We left from Punta Arenas and sailed across the Atlantic until the Canary Islands. Outreach was an important component of the cruise and all our activities can be found there.


REMEI Cruise, NW Mediterranean.

In September 2017 I led the REMEI Cruise aboard the R/V García del Cid.  The main goal of the REMEI cruise was to perform experiments designed to understand the biological factors that regulate the presence of prokaryotic diversity and functions.


PEGASO Cruise, Antarctica.

In early 2015 I was fornutante to participate in the Antartic Cruise PEGASO (Plankton-derived Emission of trace Gases and Aerosols in the Southern Ocean) aboard the R/V Hespérides lead by Dr. Rafel Simó, ICM-CSIC.  The PEGASO project aims to fill crucial knowledge gaps presently existing in the timely subject of marine aerosol sources as well as the main aerosol chemical, physical and biological processes responsible for aerosol formation and transformation in open ocean regions. Aerosols, depending on their properties, can dramatically alter clouds, either increasing or decreasing the sun-reflecting effect.


Tara Oceans Expedition, Red Sea and Sargasso Sea

Between 2009 and 2012 the international Tara Oceans Expedition took place aboard the schooner Tara which circumnavigated the world oceans to explore the diversity, evolution and ecology of all compartments of plankton including viruses, bacteria, archaea, protists, metazoans, and even fish larvae. I was fortunate to participate in the planning and organization of this expedition and to sail in different legs including the Red Sea or the Sargasso Sea.


Station ALOHA, Hawaii

In 2010 I participated in a cruise lead by Dr. Ben van Mooy at the oceanographic Station ALOHA north of the island of Oahu in the Hawaii Archipelago. ALOHA is a station where several oceanographic studies have been conducted since its stablishment in 1988 with the intend to understand and explain the dynamics of the greater North Pacific Ocean. This cruise was carried out on the R/V Kilo Moana from the University of Hawaii. There, Dr. Michal Koblizek and I work in studying the growth rates and responses to nutrient limitation of marine photoheterotrophic bacteria.


Gulf of Lion, NW Mediterranean

In 2009, three cruises lead by Dr. Mikel Latasa were conducted in the Gulf of Lion (NW Mediterranean) aboard the R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa in order to study the fate of the northwestern Mediterranean open sea spring bloom. During these cruises, I studied the bacterioplankton community that accompanies the phytoplankton bloom that yearly occurs  in this area.


Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents, East Pacific Rise

During my postdoc at the Reysenbach Lab at Portland State University, I participated in two research cruises aboard the R/V Atlantis from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The main goal of these cruises led by Dr. Karen von Damm was to elucidate the ties between temporal variations in hydrothermal fluid chemistry to crustal and biological processes at 9-10N East Pacific Rise. In particular, the team from Portland were interested in studying how the geochemistry of hydrothermal fluids influences the diversity and distribution of thermophilic microorganisms. During these cruises which took place in 2006 and 2007 I had the amazing experience of diving in the Deep Submergene Vehicle Alvin.


Yellowstone National Park, USA.

During my postdoc at the Reysenbach Lab at Portland State University, we did various sampling trips to Yellowstone National Park with the main purpose of studying the Aquificales, a group of thermophilic bacteria that are widespread in terrestrial hot springs and deep-sea vents.