Gotzon Basterretxea Oyarzabal
My major interests are in the field of biological oceanography, particularly in the field of plankton dynamics and physical-biological interactions. As part of my PhD, I worked on primary production and island wake effects. I also did some research on upwelling areas and in the Southern Ocean during that time. Although still involved some open ocean research, I am presentlymore focused on studies in the coastal environment. I am interested in coastal processes and their effects on pelagic communities, including the study of nearshore Harmful Algal Blooms HABs in the Mediterranean. As part of the work in HABs we are exploring the possible links between coastal HABs and coastal groundwater discharges and therein dissolved elements. Other aspects of interest are shelf-ocean exchanges, plankton conectivity and real-time characterization of the coastal environment using optical sensors. Much of this research is directly applicable to problems of coastal zone, fisheries and marine protected areas management as well as for and other environmental issues including global change.