A young researcher with a passion for the infinitely small in the oceans, Mar Benavides was recently awarded the CNRS bronze medal. She is studying the functioning of diazotrophs, bacteria that supply nitrogen to the entire underwater food chain. Her aim is to analyse the reaction of these micro-organisms to climate change in order to gain a better understanding of future global changes in the ocean.
Mar Benavides began her oceanography studies by the sea, at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, before going on to further her research on diazotrophs in New Caledonia at the IRD, then at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, and finally at the University of Copenhagen. In 2018, the young woman joined UMR MIO, based in Marseille, where she is continuing her research by combining oceanographic expeditions and laboratory analyses. Since 2020, she has been studying the metabolism and functional diversity of diazotrophs, both at the nanometric scale and at a more global level, through their physical and chemical interactions within the ocean. The CNRS bronze medal will be awarded in 2021 in recognition of her passion for underwater life.