Researchers met at Sackville, NB this month to develop macromolecular models of marine microbes.

Day one of the meeting was held at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs on the Bay of Fundy, shown below. Participants are (left to right): David Talmy, Ina Benner, Jason Bragg, Andrew Irwin, Chris Kempes, Justin Liefer, Chris Brown, Daniel Sher, Dalit Roth, Mick Follows, Zoe Finkel (behind the camera).

SACKVILLE, NB — Mount Allison University geography and environment professor Dr. Zoe Finkel is part of an international group of researchers looking to fossils to help identify marine animals and areas of the ocean with a higher risk of extinction. The group’s paper has been published in the journal Science.

Finkel, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Marine Environmental Ecology and has co-ordinated the Environmental Science program at Mount Allison, says that the …

Our study of phytoplankton niches at Station Cariaco show that phytoplankton can evolve and change their niches over a 10-15 year period. The figure below shows the distribution of mean phytoplankton niche for temperature, irradiance, and nitrate concentration in a cooler period (blue) and a warmer period (red). Temperature and irradiance niches shift to track changes in the environment. The niches of some phytoplankton shift to lower nitrate concentrations as nitrate …

We are looking for one or two post-doctoral research associates to join the Marine Macroecology and Biogeochemistry Lab at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. For information on the lab go to www.mmab.ca. Two broad research areas are described below. There is flexibility in the details of the projects which will be designed to suit the skills and goals of the post-docs.

Marine ecology

Species distribution models can be useful tools to characterize …

Dr Benner’s work on phytoplankton evolution was featured in The Argosy this week.

Click here for the full article.