Researcher: Tanguy Soulié Project Name: EAMPIRE: Experimental Assessment of Macrophyte–Plankton Interactions Shaping Coastal Baltic Sea Ecosystem Responses to Marine Heatwaves

Home institution: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - France Host institution: Umeå Marine Science Center (UMSC)

Why did you choose the service/institution you chose?

I chose the mesocosm facility at UMF for multiple reasons. First, the facility provided state-of-the-art laboratory and analyticial facilities, equiped with a lot of materials and devices that were needed for my research to be conducted. In addition, the facility provided a direct access to the Baltic Sea, and to filtered sea water at any time if needed. The mesocosm facility was also perfect for the scale of the experiment that I planned to do, with mesocosms with sufficient volume to be able to recreate realistic macrophyte-dominated conditions.

How did this access experience support your research?

This access enabled me to conduct a large-scale mesocosm experiment, which would not have been feasible without the support and facilities such as the ones provided at UMF. The experiment was successful and yielded very interesting results, highlighting the complex interactions between plankton and macrophytes in the frame of climate change extremes.

How does your project benefit society, industry, or policy?

The Baltic Sea provides goods and services for millions of people, but these ecosystem services are increasingly threatened by climate change, and notably marine heatwaves. The results of my project have generated useful scientific knowledge for society, by gaining understanding on how marine heatwaves can affect plankton communities in the Baltic Sea, and therefore ecosystem functioning, and on how restoration of macrophyte-dominated systems can help mitigate these effects.

How did this experience mark your scientific career?

As an early-career researcher, this project was the first of its kind that I wrote and conducted. It enabled me to get some experience in project writing, management, and output dissemination, all of which are of great importance for careers in science. In addition, this project has given me the opportunity to initiate new collaborations with multiple colleagues at the host institution, which I am sure will prove to be very fruitful in the future.

Please share some words of encouragement to future users.

I strongly encourage anyone, especially early-career researchers, interesting in leading their own research project, to apply to AQUASERV calls. This unique experience, the technical and scientific knowledge that you will learn as well as the new collaborations that you will initiate, will certainly boost your scientific career.