Video portrait : Mar Benavides and the nourishing microorganisms of the ocean
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A young researcher with a passion for the infinitely small in the oceans, Mar Benavides was recently awarded the bronze medal of the CNRS. She studies the functioning of diazotrophs, bacteria that provide nitrogen to the entire underwater food chain. Her goal is to analyze the reaction of these microorganisms to climate change in order to better understand future global changes in the ocean.
Mar Benavides began her oceanography studies at the seaside, at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, to then deepen 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 the UMR MIO, based in Marseille, where she continued her research by combining oceanographic expeditions and laboratory analysis. Since 2020, she has been studying the metabolism and functional diversity of diazotrophs, at the nanoscale and at a more global level, through their physical and chemical interactions within the ocean. The CNRS bronze medal will be awarded in 2021 to this woman who is passionate about underwater life.