Dr. Benjamin Kürten is a Postdoctoral
Fellow in the Red Sea Research Center at KAUST. With over seven years of research
experience of the Red Sea, he is emerging as a leading voice in biogeochemical
cycles, food webs and ecohydrographic patterns in the region. We asked Ben to share with us
some of his research interests and what inspired his passion for marine
science. Here’s what he has to tell us.
What are your
research interests?
As a biological-oceanographer, my research is
driven by my interest in ecohydrographic patterns. That is, I am characterizing
the influence of oceanographic processes on the biogeochemistry of the Red Sea,
and the concomitant carbon and nitrogen fluxes through food webs (trophodynamics).
Altogether, these processes modulate the composition and architecture of
aquatic food webs, and translate into geographic patterns 
of stable isotope
distributions, known as isoscapes.
Since 2010 I have been studying the
biogeochemistry of the Red Sea, particularly pelagic and coral reef food webs. In
my first postdoctoral research project Nutrient Gradients in the Red Sea
(2010-2013) within the Jeddah Transect project, I studied how latitudinal nutrient
gradients in the Red Sea correlate with plankton abundance, biodiversity and
food web structure in the Red Sea and its coral reefs.
What specific
research are you doing at KAUST?
I have been a Postdoctoral Fellow since 2014 at
the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in the
Integrated Ocean Processes group of Prof. Burton H. Jones. I am working on the oce
anographic
modulation of macronutrient fluxes, the inflow of water masses from the Indian
Ocean through the Gulf
of Aden, and land-based sources of urban pollution to
elucidate the ecology and biodiversity of coral reef biota and plankton and
their responses to climate change. To understand the dynamics of autotrophic
primary production and nitrogen fixation we complement isotope tracer assays
with a suite of biological-oceanographic observations. To characterize the
underpinning nitrogen sources for and the fate of primary producers in the
marine environment, one focus is on the nitrogen and oxygen isotope
distributions in nitrate and seawater of different water masses, the carbon and
nitrogen isotopic composition of molecular compounds (e.g. of amino acids), and
concentrations of nitrous oxide (N2O).
Why does this research matter to you?
As a young child I read the book
‘Manta, devils of the Red Sea’ by the Austrian zoologist Hans Hass about his
1950s expeditions to the Red Sea. During his RV Xarifa expeditions from Port Sudan, he was among the first to explore
and document the beauty of the coral reefs and film manta rays and whale sharks
in the Red Sea. His fascinating descriptions inspired me to become a marine
biologist and explore the Red Sea. Lately, we have collected zooplankton
targeted by whale sharks in the Red Sea for identification and we are underway
to determine the trophic position of whale sharks in the coral reef food web near
Al Lith using stable isotopes.
Why did you choose
KAUST for this stage of your research career?
I chose to join Prof. Burton
Jones group, because I was offered the autonomy of evolving and expanding my
focus on oceanographic drivers such as mesoscale processes and upwelling in the
Red Sea, while working collaboratively in a multidisciplinary academic setting with
oceanographers, atmospheric modelers, remote sensing analysts, and reef ecologists.
Through KAUST I have the incredible opportunity to elucidate processes that
govern the phytoplankton and zooplankton biodiversity and macronutrients fluxes
of the Red Sea.
For more on Ben’s background and publications, visit:
https://rsrc.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/Kurten.aspx
Existing Postdoctoral Fellowship opportunities will always
be advertised on our news and events page:
Participants of the second Coral-Plankton expedition
(CoPex 2, May 2015, Al Lith)