Today, we said farewell to Federico Malavolta, an ERASMUS+ student who has been part of our MARE/IDL team since March 2024. His traineeship was a collaborative effort between the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, and Ciências-Ulisboa, supported by the CEECIND CHASE project (funded by the Portuguese Science Foundation) and the H2020 PORTWIMS project (Portugal Twinning for Innovation and Excellence in Marine Science and Earth Observation), both led by MARE/ARNET.
Federico Malavolta (left) and Catarina Guerreiro (right) in front of the Calcareous Nannoplankton Laboratory, at Ciências-ULisboa, Portugal.
During his time with us, Federico focused on learning the taxonomy of coccolithophores along a meridional transect in the South Atlantic Ocean. His work, including optical light microscopy at the Calcareous Nannoplankton Laboratory at IDL and Scanning Electron Microscope analysis at the Department of Plant Biology, will form the basis of his MSc thesis in Marine Geology under the supervision of Elisa Malinverno at the University of Milano-Bicocca, and of Catarina Guerreiro at Ciências-Ulisboa. Elisa is Associate Professor in Paleontology and Paleoecology at the Dep. of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT) with great expertise in calcareous nannoplankton. Both Catarina and Elisa are longtime members of the International Nannoplankton Association.
Federico's next step is to study the impact of meridional variations in upper ocean hydrology and mixed layer depth on coccolithophore ecology and productivity in the South Atlantic. This research, using multidisciplinary data from the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT28), will enhance our understanding of this important group of calcifying phytoplankton, particularly in the less-studied South Atlantic. The findings will improve the use of coccoliths as paleoecological and paleoceanographic indicators of ocean primary productivity and biogeochemical processes. This is a crucial step in developing reliable calibration biological and biogeochemical proxies to be used as a baseline for the identification, quantification, and validation of modern ecosystem changes with respect to pre-industrial status.
We wish Federico all the best as he returns to Italy and look forward to hearing more about his Atlantic discoveries! :)