Regina Kolzenburg

Research keywords: climate change, global change, ocean acidification, ocean warming, marine heatwaves, coralline algae, macroalgae, cold-water corals, ecology, biogeochemistry, structural integrity, photosynthesis, multiple stressors, species distributions, blue carbon, ecosystem services, nature-based solutions, polar, temperate.

With anthropogenic climate change increasingly affecting the world’s oceans, my research seeks to understand the consequences of ocean acidification, ocean warming, marine heatwaves and storm events on benthic ecosystem functions and species’ ecology, biogeography, structural integrity and biogeochemistry. Besides others, the main focus hereby lies on calcifying benthic organisms (e.g. coralline algae and cold-water corals), their carbon production and carbon burial potential.

In addition to species-specific responses, I am also working on overarching research questions related to changes in biodiversity associated with intertidal macroalgal habitats and how direct climate change effects on macroalgae species affect biodiversity assemblages in the intertidal.

I apply a multidisciplinary approach combining fieldwork, indoor and outdoor Marine Mesocosms and laboratory experiments in collaboration with colleagues across diverse research disciplines at UMF, faculties at UMU and collaborators around the world.

Analytical methods include laser ablation ICPMS, SEM, photophysiological analyses (e.g. PAM), carbonate chemistry analyses, tensile strength and nano-indentation.