About

Débora Iglesias-Rodriguez has spent over two decades studying the diversity and function of marine phytoplankton, integrating molecular approaches, carbon physiology, and biogeochemistry in both laboratory and field settings. Her research has focused on identifying the mechanisms controlling plankton calcification under rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) conditions associated with ocean acidification.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Oceanography
• Environmental science
• Geology
• Engineering
• Environmental chemistry
• Materials science
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• Supplementary material to "Biological thresholds for marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR): the effect of changes in carbonate chemistry"

  2026-03-26

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Biological thresholds for marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR): the effect of changes in carbonate chemistry

  2026-03-26

  articleOpen access

  Abstract. Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) encompasses a variety of approaches to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere, which, given current and projected emissions, is necessary to keep global average temperature increases to less than 2 °C. In addition to the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, mCDR projects would have effects on the marine environment, including changes in ocean carbonate chemistry. These changes in carbonate chemistry can affect marine organisms through multiple physiological pathways. Although research on the effects of ocean acidification over the last fifteen years has advanced understanding of the effects of low pH/high CO2 conditions on marine organisms, much less is known about organismal response to the high pH/low CO2 or high alkalinity conditions that can be generated by some mCDR methods. We created a database of available information on marine species response to the carbonate chemistry conditions that can be generated by mCDR with a focus on identifying carbonate chemistry thresholds at which biological responses occur. The database contains 310 studies, from which we estimated 276 thresholds. In addition to all mCDR studies available to date, we reviewed studies not explicitly designed to address mCDR. These studies used natural and artificially manipulated variations in carbonate chemistry, including increasing pH and alkalinity, to explore basic physiological and biological responses as well as approaches to mitigate ocean acidification. In analyzing the database, we considered a variety of biological responses, both positive and negative, and considered sensitivity by taxa, exposure duration, treatment method and other factors. Using practical definitions of a threshold, including one based on the treatment level leading to the first statistically significant biological response, we describe the distribution of pH and alkalinity threshold values. The data reveal a high tolerance for high pH (>12) and high alkalinity for some species responses under some experimental conditions, but negative response to experimental conditions only slightly above ambient (pH 8.3) for other species responses. A positive effect of pH above ambient levels was observed in six cases, just 3 % of the total. We summarize results by presenting the distributions of threshold estimates collected from individual studies. The uncertainty and variation in organismal response represents a challenge for the development of management guidelines for the developing mCDR industry. Building on our review of existing studies, we suggest several paths forward for improved biological threshold estimates for mCDR-relevant carbonate chemistry conditions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Characterization of the molecular mechanisms of silicon uptake in coccolithophores

  Environmental Microbiology · 2022 · 5 citations

  • Biology
  • Ecology
  • Materials science

  -coupled Si transporters when expressed in heterologous systems and exhibit similar characteristics to diatom SITs. We find that CbSITL from Coccolithus braarudii is transcriptionally regulated by Si availability and is expressed in environmental coccolithophore populations. However, the Si requirement of C. braarudii and other coccolithophores is very low, with transport rates of exogenous Si below the level of detection in sensitive assays of Si transport. As coccoliths contain only low levels of Si, we propose that Si acts to support the calcification process, rather than forming a structural component of the coccolith itself. Si is therefore acting as a micronutrient in coccolithophores and natural populations are only likely to experience Si limitation in circumstances where dissolved silicon (DSi) is depleted to extreme levels.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Wildfire Ash Promotes Growth of Santa Barbara Channel Phytoplankton Communities Under Low Nutrient Conditions

  Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020 · 2020

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Environmental science
  • Oceanography
  • Ecology
  Publisher

• Global variability in seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios in the modern ocean

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 146 citations

  • Oceanography
  • Environmental chemistry
  • Environmental science

  Seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios are biogeochemical parameters reflecting the Earth-ocean-atmosphere dynamic exchange of elements. The ratios' dependence on the environment and organisms' biology facilitates their application in marine sciences. Here, we present a measured single-laboratory dataset, combined with previous data, to test the assumption of limited seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca variability across marine environments globally. High variability was found in open-ocean upwelling and polar regions, shelves/neritic and river-influenced areas, where seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios range from ∼4.40 to 6.40 mmol:mol and ∼6.95 to 9.80 mmol:mol, respectively. Open-ocean seawater Mg:Ca is semiconservative (∼4.90 to 5.30 mol:mol), while Sr:Ca is more variable and nonconservative (∼7.70 to 8.80 mmol:mol); both ratios are nonconservative in coastal seas. Further, the Ca, Mg, and Sr elemental fluxes are connected to large total alkalinity deviations from International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) standard values. Because there is significant modern seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios variability across marine environments we cannot absolutely assume that fossil archives using taxa-specific proxies reflect true global seawater chemistry but rather taxa- and process-specific ecosystem variations, reflecting regional conditions. This variability could reconcile secular seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratio reconstructions using different taxa and techniques by assuming an error of 1 to 1.50 mol:mol, and 1 to 1.90 mmol:mol, respectively. The modern ratios' variability is similar to the reconstructed rise over 20 Ma (Neogene Period), nurturing the question of seminonconservative behavior of Ca, Mg, and Sr over modern Earth geological history with an overlooked environmental effect.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Interpreting phytoplankton bloom development using high-frequency radar and satellite ocean color imagery

  AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts · 2018-12-01

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• Water sampling from aerial drones for water quality research in coastal and inland waters

  2018-02-28 · 6 citations

  preprintSenior author

  Water sample collection is a simple, but fundamental approach for measuring water properties that cannot currently be sensed in situ with instruments or for conducting experiments requiring water samples. Conventional approaches to water sampling typically employ research vessels which are costly, limited by sea state, and are often restricted by scheduling and other logistics. These factors can limit the ability to sample transient phenomena in inland and coastal waters. They can also restrict sampling frequency for time series measurements. We describe the use of aerial drones and newly developed sampling bottles that allow sub-surface water collection without the use of research vessels. The sampling bottles are similar in operation to conventional Niskin bottles, but with the different methods for closing the bottles. We have experimented with two closing methods. One uses a float and mechanical linkage to close bottles at fixed depths and the other uses pressure sensors to close bottles at programmed depths. Drone-based water sampling is currently employed in the Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research (SBC LTER) project to obtain weekly time series of water samples for pH and total alkalinity at a long-term oceanographic mooring. The water samples are also being used to calibrate pH sensors on the mooring and assess data quality. Drone sampling will be expanded to other SBC LTER moorings in the future. Aerial drones offer a new approach for sampling the coastal ocean and inland waters. Drone-based sampling is in its infancy, but we envision the development of a suite of specialized instrumentation and water collection devices that take advantage of the capabilities of aerial drones. This will allow rapid response for sampling transient events such as harmful algal blooms and toxic spills in a wide range of environmental conditions.

  PublisherDOI

• Intraspecific Adaptations to Thermal Gradients in a Cosmopolitan Coccolithophore

  AGUOS · 2016-02-01

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• Appendix A. A table showing global echinoderms database details along with the sampling method used to collect samples and to estimate density and biomass, and a figure showing GLODAP bottle data distribution used to estimate the calcite compensation depth (Ω = 1) with depth in Fig. 4.

  Figshare · 2016-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  A table showing global echinoderms database details along with the sampling method used to collect samples and to estimate density and biomass, and a figure showing GLODAP bottle data distribution used to estimate the calcite compensation depth (Ω = 1) with depth in Fig. 4.

  PublisherDOI

• Phenotypic Variability in the Coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi

  PLoS ONE · 2016-06-27 · 59 citations

  articleOpen access

  Coccolithophores are a vital part of oceanic phytoplankton assemblages that produce organic matter and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) containing traces of other elements (i.e. Sr and Mg). Their associated carbon export from the euphotic zone to the oceans' interior plays a crucial role in CO2 feedback mechanisms and biogeochemical cycles. The coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi has been widely studied as a model organism to understand physiological, biogeochemical, and ecological processes in marine sciences. Here, we show the inter-strain variability in physiological and biogeochemical traits in 13 strains of E. huxleyi from various biogeographical provinces obtained from culture collections commonly used in the literature. Our results demonstrate that inter-strain genetic variability has greater potential to induce larger phenotypic differences than the phenotypic plasticity of single strains cultured under a broad range of variable environmental conditions. The range of variation found in physiological parameters and calcite Sr:Ca highlights the need to reconsider phenotypic variability in paleoproxy calibrations and model parameterizations to adequately translate findings from single strain laboratory experiments to the real ocean.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Mario Lebrato

  10 shared

• Dana Greeley

  NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

  8 shared

• Nadia Suarez-Bosche

  Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

  6 shared

• Richard A. Feely

  6 shared

• Joan Enric Cartes

  Institut Català de Ciències del Clima

  6 shared

• Darryl R H Green

  4 shared

• Belinda Alker

  4 shared

• Daniel O. B. Jones

  4 shared

Labs

• Iglesias-Rodriguez LabPI

Education

• B.S., Biology and Biochemistry

  University of Santiago de Compostela

  1990

• Ph.D., Marine phytoplankton

  University of Wales Swansea

  1996

• Other, Genetic diversity in coccolithophores

  University of Bristol

• Other, Modeling the global distribution of coccolithophores using satellite data

  Rutgers University

Awards & honors

• NERC Fellowship at the University of Bristol
• NASA Fellowship at Rutgers University