סמינר מחלקתי: The effect of deep-sea mining on oceanic phytoplankton

הסמינר השבועי של החוג ללימודי הסביבה 

יום שני, 11 במרץ 2019, שעה 15:00-16:00

בניין הקפסולה, אודיטוריום (קומה 1-)

סמינר מחלקתי: The effect of deep-sea mining on oceanic phytoplankton

דר' נינה קמנאיה 
Nina Kamennaya, PhD

Marine microbiologist with extensive experience in field work-based studies of microbial physiology (four oceanic cruises).

Special interest is in composition, dynamics and function of the microbial cell surface.

The impact of ferromanganese polymetallic crust mining on the open surface ocean concerns mankind because deep-ocean Fe-MN crusts can become a global resource of valuable elements. Indeed, many elements (e.g. Cu, Cd, Ni), which can leach from crushed crusts, have the potential to poison phytoplankton. In order to assess the magnitude of this potential hazard, we selected the pristine South Atlantic Ocean to examine the effect of a representative deep-ocean ferromanganese polymetallic crust on the pivotal biological process of CO2 fixation at the ocean-basin scale. The ore crust slurry failed to kill phytoplankton and sizable leachate additions were required to cause a statistically significant decrease of CO2 fixation. Such unanticipated resilience of phytoplankton to the Fe-Mn crust leachate evidences that the environmental impact on surface water phytoplankton of spillage of ferromanganese polymetallic crust material could be minimal.

ההרצאה באנגלית