Eva ORTEGA-RETUERTA

Eva Ortega-Retuerta, CR CNRS, HDR

I focus my research in understanding the linkage between organic matter and microbes across ocean scales, and how this interaction affects biogeochemical processes. I currently work on the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

At 662 Pg C, marine organic matter (OM) is one of the largest reservoirs of reduced carbon on Earth. It consists of a myriad of compounds with different reactivity. Knowledge of dynamic interactions between OM (both dissolved and particulate) and microbial communities is critical to draw the routes of the carbon and other element fluxes, but also to understand the evolution and succession of microbial communities in ecosystems. While OM provides the energetic foundation for the growth of heterotrophic prokaryotes, affecting their community structure and metabolic potential, prokaryotes are also key mediators in the formation, transformation, and storage of OM, affecting numerous biogeochemical processes in the ocean.

Professional Experience

• Since January 2019: CNRS CR Laboratoire d’Océanographie Microbienne de Banyuls (LOMIC), UMR7621
• March 2017-January 2019 : Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at LOMIC
• November 2011-March 2017: Postdoctoral Fellow at Marine Sciences Institute, Barcelona
• May 2011-August 2011: CDD at Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche
• May 2009-May 2011: Postdoctoral Fellow at LOMIC, Banyuls sur Mer
• November 2008-April 2009: Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Granada, Spain
• February 2004-October 2008: PhD Candidate at University of Granada, Spain
• Career breaks: September 2013-March 2014/May 2014-November 2015

Some of my current projects are:

• Disentangling the role of the microbial pump on carbon cycling in the ocean: The Mediterranean Sea as a case study (MICROPUMP). ANR JCJC 2021-2025 PI Eva Ortega-Retuerta.
• Assessing marine biogenic matter Production, Export and Remineralization: from the surface to the dark Ocean (APERO). ANR 2022-2026. PI Laurent Memery (LEMAR), Christian Tamburini (MiO), Lionel Guidi (LOV).
• Microbial colonization of ocean particles: from mechanistic understanding to global patterns (MICOLOR). Spanish Ministry of Science and Education. 2022-2025. PI Josep M Gasol, Icm Barcelona.
• The Lincoln Sea, the last refuge of the changing Arctic Ocean (REFUGE-ARCTIC). PI Mathieu Ardyna, Takuvik. BnP Foundation, 2023-2025.
• Impacts of PYROgenic aerosols on PLANKTON ecosystems (Pyroplankton-LEFE). PI Cécile Guieu, Eva Ortega-Retuerta. INSU Lefe-Cyber 2023-2024

Selected publications:

• Ortega-Retuerta, E., Devresse, Q., Caparros, J., Marie, B., Crispi, O., Catala, P., Joux, F., Obernosterer, I., 2021. Dissolved organic matter released by two marine heterotrophic bacterial strains and its bioavailability for natural prokaryotic communities. Environ Microbiol 23, 1363–1378. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462- 2920.15306
• Sebastián, M*., Ortega-Retuerta, E*., Gómez-Consarnau, L., Zamanillo, M., Álvarez, M., Arístegui, J., Gasol, J.M., 2021. Environmental gradients and physical barriers drive the basin-wide spatial structuring of Mediterranean Sea and adjacent eastern Atlantic Ocean prokaryotic communities. Limnol Oceanogr lno.11944. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11944
• Ortega-Retuerta, E., Mazuecos, I.P., Reche, I., Gasol, J.M., Álvarez-Salgado, X.A., Álvarez, M., Montero, M.F., Arístegui, J., 2019. Transparent exopolymer particle (TEP) distribution and in situ prokaryotic generation across the deep Mediterranean Sea and nearby North East Atlantic Ocean. Progress in Oceanography 173, 180–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2019.03.002
• Ortega-Retuerta, E., Joux, F., Jeffrey, W.H., Ghiglione, J.F., 2013. Spatial variability of particle-attached and free-living bacterial diversity in surface waters from the Mackenzie River to the Beaufort Sea (Canadian Arctic). Biogeosciences 10, 2747–2759. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-2747-2013  

To see my complete publication record:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=es&user=ug4CygEAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate