My research focusses on marine biogeochemical cycles in the global ocean, particularly the cycling of macronutrients and carbon. I have carried out research from the polar oceans (Southern Ocean, Arctic) to the subtropical Atlantic Ocean. I often use stable isotope approaches to assessing the biogeochemical cycling of nitrate and carbon to understand uptake of nutrients by phytoplankton, the recycling of nutrients and how they are influenced by ocean circulation and environmental change.
At present my research is focussed in the Arctic Ocean, investigating how nutrient limitation (in particular nitrogen) may affect primary production as Arctic warming continues.
PDRA: NERC funded Ridgemix Project, A nutrient and carbon pump over mid-ocean ridges. University of Liverpool, 2015-2017
PDRA: NERC funded ARISE project, Can we detect changes in Arctic ecosystems? University of Edinburgh, 2017-2020
Lecturer In nutrient biogeochemistry: Scottish Association for Marine Science 2020-present
ARISE: Can we detect changes in Arctic ecosystems? (NERC CAO programme)
Tuerena, R. E., Hopkins, J., Ganeshram, R. S., Norman, L., de la Vega, C., Jeffreys, R., and Mahaffey, C., (2021), Nitrate assimilation and regeneration in the Barents Sea: insights from nitrate isotopes, Biogeosciences, 18, 637–653, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-637-2021
de la Vega, C., Mahaffey, C., Tuerena, R.E., Yurkowski, D.J., Ferguson, S.H., Stenson, G.B., Nordøy, E.S., Haug, T., Biuw, M., Smout, S., Hopkins, J., Tagliabue, A. and Jeffreys, R.M. (2021), Arctic seals as tracers of environmental and ecological change. Limnol Oceanogr, 6: 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10176
Tuerena, R. E., Ganeshram, R. S., Humphreys, M. P., Browning, T. J., Bouman, H., and Piotrowski, A. P., (2019) Isotopic fractionation of carbon during uptake by phytoplankton across the South Atlantic subtropical convergence, Biogeosciences, 16, 3621–3635, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3621-2019
Tuerena, R. E., Williams, R. G., Mahaffey, C., Vic, C., Green, J. A. M., Naveira‐Garabato, A., et al. (2019). Internal tides drive nutrient fluxes into the deep chlorophyll maximum over mid‐ocean ridges. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 33, 995– 1009. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GB006214
de la Vega, C, Jeffreys, RM, Tuerena, R, Ganeshram, R, Mahaffey, C. Temporal and spatial trends in marine carbon isotopes in the Arctic Ocean and implications for food web studies. Glob Change Biol. 2019; 25: 4116– 4130. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14832
