Nicole Aberle-Malzahn

Current teaching and research fields

I am a biological oceanographer with strong interests in plankton ecology. My focuses are on phytoplankton-microzooplankton interactions and the role of heterotrophic protists in modulating and controlling phytoplankton blooms. Further, the transfer of matter and energy from one trophic level to the next and the role of micro-/protozooplankton (e.g. ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates) as a trophic intermediary between microbial and traditional food webs are of major interest. In this context, I focus mainly on the top-down control of microzooplankton by consumers such as mesozooplankton and ichthyoplankton.

Further, predator-prey interactions in the plankton in relation to changes in abiotic conditions (e.g. temperature, light, nutrients) are major topics during my past and present research. Core questions of my current work is how climate change (global warming and ocean acidification) affects plankton diversity and marine food webs. While my main emphasis was originally on temperate marine ecosystems, the responses of plankton communities to future ocean conditions at low and high latitude regions are important aspects of my past and present research activities.

The approaches I address range from field surveys to experimental marine ecology. To simulate future ocean conditions, small-scale laboratory experiments or large-scale indoor or outdoor mesocosms are set-up. The aim is to create near-natural conditions by using e.g. natural plankton communities and applying different stressors to the system (e.g. changes in temperature, pH, salinity, light or nutrients).

My teaching activities at the Department of Biology (IBI) at NTNU, take place within the Master program ‘Marine Coastal Development (MACODEV)’ where I teach ‘Biological Oceanography’ (BI3060). Further, I am involved in the Marine Ecology course (BI2060) within the Bachelor program at IBI.

Past research activities

I studied biology with an emphasis on biological oceanography at Kiel University from 1994 to 2000. During my diploma thesis at the Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (Bremen, Germany), I focused on the responses of deep-sea benthic communities to a phytodetritus pulse using stable isotope techniques. Thereafter, I started a PhD project at the Max-Planck Institute for Limnology (Ploen, Germany) and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) focusing on a comparison between microphytobenthic communities in marine and freshwater systems and on the role of benthic microalgae as food for consumers. After the completion of my PhD in 2004, I started a Postdoc position at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany (2004-2006). During that time, I started to focus on planktonic systems with an emphasis on lower food-web dynamics and the impact of changes in abiotic conditions (e.g. temperature, nutrients). From 2006-2015 I worked as a research associate at the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland (BAH), Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) where I focused mainly on food-web interactions in the plankton and especially the role of microzooplankton as a trophic intermediary between primary producers and consumers. Further, alterations in the planktonic food web resulting from changes in environmental conditions (e.g. global warming, ocean acidification) were of relevance during my past and present research.