Just over 300 km off the Galician coast lies the Iberian abyssal plain, with depths reaching up to 1,500 meters. The presence of such deep areas so close to the coast facilitates the study of abyssal zones. Scientific cooperation between the University of Vigo and other Atlantic universities helps establish the foundations for understanding connectivity processes in an environment often described as the “Last Frontier,” about which very little is known regarding its biodiversity and broader biological processes.
Within this context, the collaboration involves Marcelo Oliva, associate researcher at the Millenium Institute of Oceanography at the University of Concepción, full professor at the University of Antofagasta, and director of the Doctoral Program in Applied Sciences with a specialization in Coastal Marine Systems, and Pablo Presa, researcher in the Marine Genetic Resources group at the Marine Research Center of the University of Vigo.
On the occasion of his stay at the University of Vigo, Marcelo Oliva will present part of his work on the ecology and evolution of marine parasites, which he uses as a tool for identifying fish stocks and tracking migratory movements. Specifically, Dr. Oliva will deliver two talks: “Parásitos de peces marinos en la última frontera > 1500 m profundidad” and “Merluzas de America del Sur: vías de colonización inferidas desde sus parásitos metazoos.” In these lectures, he will discuss his research on metazoan parasites of deep-sea fish in northern Chile, using by-catch from the artisanal fishery of the deep-sea hake Dissostichus eleginoides as a source of biological material.
The work to be presented falls within the “Deep Ocean” research line, which evaluates the role of deep-sea fish parasites as “biological markers” of connectivity in the Deep Ocean. This research line, developed by the Millenium Institute of Oceanography, is led by Dr. Rubén Escribano of the University of Concepción, in collaboration with Luís A. Ñacari (Peru), Juan F. Espinola-Novelo (Mexico), doctoral students in Applied Sciences with a specialization in Coastal Marine Systems (University of Antofagasta), Fabiola Sepúlveda, and Florence Droguet (University of Western Brittany, France).
The lectures will take place on November 29 in the ECIMAT Assembly Hall from 11:00 to 12:30, with a coffee break in between. Attendance is free, and no prior registration is required.
