Jour fixe: Senior Fellow Graham Underwood
Graham Underwood one of the new Senior Fellows presented his current research in the Jour Fixe this week.
For the first time we, the Zukunftskolleg, offered a hybrid format which means that you could either participate in person or via Zoom.
Senior Fellow Graham Underwood (Biology / School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, UK) spoke about "Migration, microalgae, mud, mats and mucilage".
Abstract:
The natural world has many famous migrations; Wildebeest in the Serengeti, Storks in Europe, Caribou in Alaska. But there are equally impressive migrations in the microscopic realm, if you know where to look! This presentation will introduce the world of benthic diatoms; beautiful single-celled photosynthetic algae that live on surfaces and play key roles in the functioning of the natural environment. Diatoms and other benthic (bottom-living) microbes contribute to important ecosystem services supporting human society and UN Sustainable Development Goals (e.g. food provisioning, clean water, sustainable coastlines, marine resources). My research focus is the diversity and functioning of diatoms living in mud, sand and ice. To live there, diatoms have a unique motility mechanism, and behaviours that allow them to migrate vertically, to detect different colours of light, to keep in synchrony with tides and day-night cycles, to form mats, and to produce mucilage (slime). These adaptations allow diatoms to thrive in physiologically challenging environments. Questions concerning how these behaviours are controlled formed the basis of my Senior Fellowship in the Zukunftskolleg during 2021 and 2022.
Please find more information/literature on Graham´s google scholar link: