Postdoc, PhD
Juan Manuel Valero Rodríguez

Research Background

I am a marine ecologist whose career has been extensively linked to environmental impacts in coastal ecosystems. After my University period I worked as a research technician at the University of Alicante, Spain, to study lipidic composition of escaped fish from aquaculture facilities. I moved on to Melbourne University, Australia, where I studied the properties of macroalgae for bioremediation during my PhD. Before moving to Norway, I studied the antibiotic content of escaped fish from aquaculture cages as a senior research fellow of the European project GLORiA. Overall, my academic life has offered me many interesting topics to study, namely: impacts of fish farm escapees; effects of aquaculture nutrients on pelagic processes, taxonomy, abundance and composition of pelagic species; effects of aquaculture on benthic organisms and the use of macroalgae bioremediation of anthropic-derived nutrients and other human-induced effects on the environment.

Current Project

Here at the UiB, I am currently invested on the study of seasonality-induced changes in Arctic fucoids and their distribution under a climate-change context, a project funded by the SEAS program. Dexterity in the analysis of macroalgae responses to changing environmental conditions is key in modelling future outcomes and establishing management policies involved in adjacent fields such as conservation or exploitation.