Our group has collaborated with a large group of researchers to better understand cynobacteria communities across Europe. Our paper analyzing cynobacterial toxins and their environmental drivers selected by Toxins among the best papers in 2020. We are happy to be a part of such large scale effort. You can read our paper here.
We presented our research on high latitude and altitude ecosystems in the online workshop “The Climate Change and Our Seas” which was conducted by Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TÜDAV) and Institute of Marine Sciences of Middle East Technical University (IMS METU). High latitude and altitude ecosystems are sentinels of climate change and facing dramatic ecosystems shifts. We highlighted the need for further research on Turkish high altitude ecosystems. We are grateful to TÜDAV to organize such a great event to bring different fields together.
You can watch the workshop on the TÜDAV’s YouTube channel:
Korhan Özkan got selected for Turkish Academy of Science (TÜBA) 2021 Young Scientist Awards (GEBİP). We are also pleased that our collaborator Erik Jeppesen was also got TÜBA International Academy Award. More information on the awards are here. Big congratulations to Korhan and Erik for their outstanding achievements. We are grateful to TÜBA and their support to our research.
Our team presented ongoing research on Antarctic Peninsula Food Webs in the SCAR Conference in 3-7 August 2020 and 4th National Polar Research Workshop on the 22nd of October 2020. In the online conference, 3 poster presentations were presented by Esra Mine Ünal, Saba Başkır and along with an oral presentation, by Korhan Özkan. We presented our studies on the food web structure and community composition, diatom stratigraphy and dietary DNA extraction for metabarcoding along the Antarctic peninsula, utilising surface sediment, sediment core and scat samples collected via the Turkish Antarctic Expedition Programme. Our research on Antarctic food web ecology is funded by TUBITAK 1001 programme.
A selection of photographs were exhibited in the Furuzan olşen Exhibition hall between 8-14 March of 2020. Photos were covering the stunning megafauna of the Antarctic, captured by Korhan Özkan during the Turkish Antarctic Expedition in 2019.
