idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
With a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), Dr. Juan Molina from Argentina will spend a year and a half at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) to study the impact of climate change and other environmental changes on fish.
Rising sea temperatures, decreasing oxygen content and toxic waste in many marine areas are factors that can influence the metabolism of fish and thus also their growth and body size - properties which are of important for commercial catch and fisheries.
The project is also relevant for the aquaculture of fish. The planned studies on the metabolism of fish should on the one hand provide information on the energy costs and feed requirements of the animals. In aquaculture, feeding is often very random. Fish food is expensive, and too much of it can lead to fatty liver in farmed fish with small space for movement.
In open net enclosures, such as those found off Norway and many Asian coastal countries, the farmed fish are directly exposed to the fluctuations of their water environment. If you know how their metabolism and food requirements change as a result, their feeding can be done much more systematically. This would prevent feed waste, which all too often leads to eutrophication of the water and stimulates bacterial growth.
Juan Molina is affiliated to the working group Ecophysiology / Experimental Aquaculture. He will study scorpion and toad fish and measure their oxygen consumption using a special respiration chamber developed at ZMT. Oxygen consumption is a measure of the fish's energy consumption and thus its food requirements.
Juan Molina is a fish ecologist and holds a doctorate from the Del Sur National University in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, where he works as an assistant professor. He is an assistant researcher at the Argentinean Institute of Oceanography. As a postdoctoral fellow, he conducted research at universities in Canada, Japan and Australia. Molina received a Georg Forster fellowship from the AvH, which enables young scientists with above-average qualifications from developing and emerging countries to undertake long-term research stays in Germany. The programme is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
About the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research
In research and education the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen is dedicated to the better understanding of tropical coastal ecosystems. As an interdisciplinary Leibniz institute the ZMT conducts research on the structure and functioning of tropical coastal ecosystems and their reaction to natural changes and human interactions. It aims to provide a scientific basis for the protection and sustainable use of these ecosystems. The ZMT works in close cooperation with partners in the tropics, where it supports capacity building and the development of infrastructures in the area of sustainable coastal zone management. The ZMT is a member of the Leibniz Association.
Dr. Juan Molina
Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT)
Tel: 0421 23800 102
juan.molina@leibniz-zmt.de
Juan Molina with a Port Jackson shark in Melbourne, Australia
Licia Finotto
None
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists, Scientists and scholars
Biology, Environment / ecology, Oceanology / climate
transregional, national
Personnel announcements, Research projects
English
Juan Molina with a Port Jackson shark in Melbourne, Australia
Licia Finotto
None
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