Queralt Güell-Bujons

PhD Student

Departament de Biologia Marina i Oceanografia
Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC
Pg. Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49
08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Tel: (34) 93 2309500 Ext: 445671
Fax: (34) 93 2309555
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Biogeochemical cycles are networks of processes with global impacts. Despite their large-scale influence, the majority of the crucial processes occur at the microscale and are conducted by microorganisms. Is in this scale where communication in the microbial world takes place by the exchange of chemical signals, also named infochemicals. Within the extensive range of signals, dimethylated sulfur compounds (DMSCs) are noteworthy. Chemical communication usually causes a sequence of responses in motility and orientation. These responses, framed within the term chemotaxis, critically influence a wide range of interactions such as parasitic behavior and selective grazing or foraging. My research combines these three topics: (i) Chemotactic responses of herbivore protists; (ii) dimethylated sulfur compounds (DMSCs) and their role as infochemicals and (iii) microzooplankton selective predation. The research line investigates the three concepts but, above all, tries to disclose how they associate. The cycling and ecophysiological functions of DMSCs are explored within the frame of chemotaxis as a driver of protist grazing.