Photo by Alex Ingle
Nick Kamenos
Nick Kamenos
Photo by Alex Ingle
Research vision
Research keywords: Arctic, ecology, nature-based solutions, biogeochemistry , blue carbon, climate change, glaciers, human interactions, palaeoclimate reconstruction, global change, multiple stressors, ecosystem services, ocean acidification, tropical, coralline algae, corals, seagrass, sediment
The oceans are a critical global resource which is changing. Change is both natural but also, in recent times, has become anthropogenically driven. My group's research at the Umeå Marine Sciences Centre and the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science at Umeå University asks questions about how the oceans are altered by the synergy between natural and anthropogenic change while trying to better determine the actual extent of global change.
Global biogeochemical and ecological cycles are a key interest of my group’s research which we consider in two broad groupings:
1) We investigate relationships between global change (e.g. climate variability, ocean acidification & multiple stressors) and ecosystem engineers (including macroalgae, coralline algae, corals, seagrass and sediments) along with the services they provide. Recently, this has focused the their role in understanding glacier and freshwater discharge, blue carbon repositories and coral bleaching.
2) We develop climatic and ecological proxies for the Holocene to better understand past responses of ecosystem engineers to different rates of environmental change at Arctic, temperate and tropical latitudes.
Both research groupings are strongly multidisciplinary including many biological, geological and chemical techniques. We counduct our research in polar to tropical seas using SCUBA as well as in the Marine Mesocosm Facility. My group also benfits from access to the latest analyical facilities including laser ablation ICPMS, isotope ratio mass spectrometry, Raman, SEM, gas chromatography, photosynthetic and carbonate chemistry analysis.
Some of our latest research is published in Science and in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
7th International Coralline Algae Meeting
Registration and Abstract Submission Open!
We are delighted to host the 7th International Coralline Algae Meeting in Umeå, Sweden, in August 2023!
The meeting will have a multi-disciplinary flavour, welcoming submissions spanning the ecology, biogeochemistry, geology, evolution, physiology and conservation of free-living, crustose and geniculate coralline algae, with a forward-looking view to emerging frontiers in the field.
The meeting will have presentations across five broad themes that span the breadth of coralline algal research, from fundamental concepts to real-world applications, with consideration for past, present-day and future outlooks.
We will also be hosting a Special Issue in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. This will be open to all, not just meeting delegates.
Full details on the conference can be found at the conference website here