Dr. Antonia Ahme
Postdoktorandin / Postdoctoral Researcher
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https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antonia-Ahme
https://bsky.app/profile/planktoni.bsky.social
I investigate the effects of environmental drivers on marine phytoplankton, mainly warming. I focus on the characterisation of key species, changes in community composition, and on the functional output for the ecosystem. My work combines micro- and mesocosm experiments on natural communities from temperate and polar oceans with the isolation and characterisation of single strains in controlled laboratory experiments.
Aktuelle Projekte
I am currently involved in two closely related research projects that investigate how phytoplankton survive the extended periods of darkness during polar winters, with a particular focus on the role of osmotrophy and warming. Both projects address similar overarching questions but are situated in different polar regions, allowing for a comparative perspective between the Antarctic and the Arctic.
My own project SurWiWa is a DFG-funded position within the Antarctic priority program SPP 1158 and focuses on the Southern Ocean.
The several months of darkness that phytoplankton have to endure in polar regions are posing a major energetic challenge. SurWiWa examines key overwintering strategies, including the ability to use extremely low light, the consumption of stored energy reserves, and especially osmotrophy to sustain the metabolism. A central aim is to understand how these processes respond to ocean warming and how this may influence species survival and community composition of the overwintering community.
I am also a part of the SurPhyve project, a Dutch-German collaboration focusing on Arctic phytoplankton. Like SurWiWa, this project explores survival strategies during the polar night and their sensitivity to warming, combining the analysis of existing data with experiments and field work. While Clara Hoppe (AWI) and I focus on osmotrophy, our collaborators Susanne Wilken (UvA) and Corina Brussard (NIOZ) take a closer look at phagotrophy and winter loss processes.
Together, these projects provide a unified framework to better understand phytoplankton winter survival in both polar regions under climate change and the consequences for the spring bloom.