Galapagos PhD research funded by the Wallacea Trust

My name is Dayonni Sofia Orellana Kehayova, and thanks to the Wallacea Trust I have started my own PhD project at the University of Liverpool titled “Investigating upwelling dynamics and plankton distribution in the Bolivar Channel, Galapagos Islands”. I have currently deployed more than 8 underwater temperature loggers along various study sites within the Bolivar Channel (Galapagos Islands), and I am using this data to help me understand when upwelling events occur within this region. To make my data even more useful, I am going to use remote sensing data products to validate it. Focusing on the oceanography of the region (ocean currents, upwelling events, atmospheric forcing, wind speed etc), is crucial, however, what I am trying to gain a better understanding of, is how do these oceanographic mechanisms influence the biology of the region? Particularly focusing on the primary productivity (plankton) of the Bolivar Channel. Thankfully, I have not been alone in this journey, since I have had the opportunity to work alongside plankton experts such as Diego Figueroa and Adrian Marchetti who have taught me how to carry out plankton samples more effectively, as well as taught me fundamental lab skills to process water samples for nutrients, chlorophyll a, DNA and use Flow cytometry. The Bolivar channel is one of the most important migratory routes for cetaceans in the Galapagos islands (and perhaps in the world!) yet, due to the underfunding of science in third world countries and the remoteness of this area, it remains critically understudied. Therefore, I am proposing one of the first comprehensive studies linking how oceanographic parameters influence the composition/distribution of plankton in The bolivar channel of the Galapagos islands.