Along with this stay, the FOVI project envisages the holding of an International Workshop between 23 and 25 September at the i~mar Center of the University of Los Lagos, in Puerto Montt, with the participation of researchers from Chile, Norway and the United States.
Between the 31 August and 14 September, the principal researcher of MASH and member of the i~mar Center of the University of Los Lagos, Pamela Fernández, is at the Nord University of Norway working with Dr. Alexander Juterbock in the framework of the International Linking Development (FOVI) project: Functional Insight into Seaweed Holobionts: Implications for seaweed aquaculture in a changing environmentinitiative financed by ANID.funded by ANID.
During her stay in Norway, the Chilean researcher is conducting physiological and molecular studies of kelp Saccharin latissima, coming from cultivated and natural populations. These analyses will serve as a basis for future comparative studies with kelp species present in Chile, in particular with regard to escaped Macrocystis pyrifera, one of the macroalgae of greatest ecological and productive importance in the country.
In this context, Pamela Fernández will also give the talk “The Giant Kelp Macrocystis pyrifera: From Organism to Holobiont”, where it will present aspects of the physiology of this species, population differences against global and local environmental changes, as well as preliminary results on the effect of the microbial community and local factors on its physiological responses. Some of these advances correspond to experiments developed within the framework of the MASH Millennium Core.
Workshop in Centro i~mar de Puerto Montt
The scientific collaboration with the Nord University will also be translated into FOVI International Workshop, which will take place shortly in Puerto Montt, in the University of Los Lagos i~mar Center, where the challenges of macroalgae aquaculture in the face of environmental change will be addressed in greater depth, with the participation of Dr. Alexander Juterbock and the Dr. Catherine Pfister, of the University of Chicago, USA
About this bond, Dr. Fernández pointed out that “Norway and Chile have many similarities in their ecosystems: both have a system of fjords and canals, high aquaculture production (salmonculture) and an incipient macroalgae aquaculture. For this reason, this internship and project seeks to strengthen ties between the two institutions, to generate collaborative instances for future projects, to promote the exchange of postgraduate students, and to empower carry out comparative studies in both hemispheres.”
