Andrea Frommel, Ph.D.

My research focusses on the effects of climate changes on commercially important marine fish. Ocean acidification, temperature and deoxegenation can have severe effects on marine organisms, expecially when the stressors are coupled. Commercially exloited fish populations face the additional challenge of fishing pressure, which reduces population size, structure and genetic diversity. As fishing pressure and climate changes often act in opposing directions, commercial populations are predicted to be more vulnerable to climatic changes and less able to adapt to future conditions.
In experiments, I rear eggs and larvae of commercial fish species under various treatment scenarios predicted for the future ocean and look at the effects on their survival, growth and performance. My laboratory techniques include histology, protein and lipid analyses, and gene expression. In future experiments, I would like to look at coupled effects of stressors, maternal effects and adaptatin potential, and throphic interactions.