Dr Kristina Beck

Postdoctoral researcher

I am a marine biologist studying the response of cold-water corals to future environmental changes. I am currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh in the iAtlantic and One Ocean Hub projects. At the St Abbs Marine Station, I am conducting a long-term multiple stressor experiment with the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa to investigate the combined effects of ocean acidification, warming, deoxygenation and reduced food availability on the physiology of live corals, as well as the integrity of the dead coral framework. The results of this experiment will improve our understanding of the effect of future environmental changes on cold-water coral ecosystems.

Biography

I completed my Bachelor in Biology in 2015 and my Master in Marine Biology in 2018 at the University of Bremen (Germany). During my Master’s studies and my PhD, I participated in four expeditions to the Huinay Scientific Field Station in Comau Fjord (Chile) to study cold-water corals under different natural environmental conditions. I finished my PhD “Cold-water corals in a changing ocean: Effects on their physiological performance” at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven (Germany) in 2022, where I studied the effects of climate change on different life stages of the cold-water coral Caryophyllia huinayensis in an aquarium experiment. I also studied the acclimatisation potential of Desmophyllum dianthus to environmental changes in a reciprocal transplantation experiment in its natural habitat.

Publications

Beck KK, Schmidt-Grieb GM, Laudien J, Försterra G, Häussermann V, González HE, Espinoza JP, Richter C & Wall M (2022) Environmental stability and phenotypic plasticity benefit the cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus in an acidified fjord, Communications Biology