Marta Estrada facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marta Estrada i Miyares
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| Born | 1946 (age 78–79) Granollers, Catalonia, Spain
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| Alma mater | University of Barcelona |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Institute of Fishery Research
Institute of Marine Sciences Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona Catalan Society of Biology |
| Thesis | Study on populations of aquatic organisms in a non uniform medium |
| Doctoral advisor | Ramon Margalef |
Marta Estrada Miyares (born 1946) is a famous researcher from Catalonia, Spain. She has spent her career studying the ocean (this is called oceanography) and the living things in it (this is called marine biology). Her most important work focuses on tiny ocean plants like algae and phytoplankton. She studies how they live and how they affect the ocean's environment.
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Marta's Early Life and Education
Marta Estrada's parents loved archaeology, which is the study of old human history. Marta was born in Granollers, a town in Spain, where she went to elementary school. Later, she moved to Barcelona and continued her studies.
She was a brilliant student at the University of Barcelona. She earned degrees with high honors in Biological Sciences in 1968 and Medicine and Surgery in 1970. In 1969, she received several special awards for being an outstanding graduate. These included the Prize for the most outstanding graduate, the National Graduation Award, and the Llaç de l'Orde Civil d'Alfons X el Savi. This last award is given in Spain for excellence in education, science, and research.
In 1968, Marta received a scholarship to work on her PhD. She was guided by Ramon Margalef López at the Institute of Fishery Research (IIP). She finished her PhD in 1976. Her research was about "Studies of populations of aquatic organisms in a non uniform medium." She earned her Doctor in Biology degree with another award for her excellent research.
Exploring the Ocean: Marta's Career
In the late 1960s, Marta Estrada joined the scientific team on a research ship called Cornide de Saavedra. This ship was very important for Spanish ocean research. Marta helped control the ship's computer. She also measured things like chlorophyll (a green pigment in plants), primary production (how much new life is made), temperature, salinity (how salty the water is), and nutrient levels in the ocean.
In 1971, she got a job as a Scientific Collaborator at the IIP. This institute is now called the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC). Before starting this job in 1972, she spent six months in the United States. She worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and on a Costa Rican research ship called Thompson. This trip helped her expand her PhD research, thanks to a scholarship from the Institute of International Education.
In the mid-1970s, Marta began to specialize in the study of phytoplankton and harmful algae. She looked for ways to control their rapid growth, known as algal blooms. She took part in two big ocean programs in the US: Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems Analysis (CUEA) and Organization of Persistent Upwelling Structures (OPUS). She also went on expeditions to Peru, Costa Rica, North-Eastern Africa, and California. These trips were part of a collaboration between researchers from the IIP and the University of Washington. During this time, she studied how productive phytoplankton were and how much biomass (total living matter) they created. She also studied how they used nitrate and what they were naturally made of.
Later, Marta continued her research on phytoplankton and how they interact with the entire ocean ecosystem. She participated in many ocean trips in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans. In 1984, she went on an expedition to the Antarctic Ocean with Josefina Castellví Piulachs. They were on an Argentinian ship called Almirante Irizar. During this trip, Marta Estrada and Josefina Castellví became the first Spanish women to step foot on Antarctica.
In the 1980s, Marta became the head of the Marine Biology and Oceanography department at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC). She was even the director of the institute from 1995 to 1997.
Marta Estrada has written many articles for international science journals. She has also contributed to books about Oceanography. She has spoken at many international conferences and guided several PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. She has also taught classes at the University of Barcelona, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and the Menéndez Pelayo International University.
Awards and Recognitions
Besides her academic awards, Marta Estrada received the Trégouboff Award from the Parisian Academy of Sciences in 1992. In 1995, the Generalitat de Catalunya (the government of Catalonia) gave her the Medalla Narcís Monturiol for her scientific and technological achievements. In 2004, she received the Creu de Sant Jordi, another very important award from Catalonia. In 2017, the Barcelona city council honored her with the Honours Medal.
Important Groups and Affiliations
Since 1996, Marta Estrada has been a member of the Catalan Society of Biology. She became its vice-president and was made an honorary member in 2016. In 2011, she became a full member of the Biological Sciences Section of the Institute of Catalan Studies. She gave a speech there about "Ecology of red tides." In 1999, she was also chosen as an Academic of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Barcelona. Her speech for this occasion was about "Hydrodynamics and phytoplankton of the Catalan sea."
In 2016, a high school in Granollers was named after her, IES Marta Estrada. This was to recognize her important contributions to science and technology.
Marta Estrada has also been a member of or connected to many other important groups and organizations, including:
- ICES Advisory Committee on Marine Pollution (1989-1992)
- AD- ENA-WWF World Wildlife Foundation (1990-1992)
- Physiological Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms (1992-1998)
- Scientific and Steering Committee (1998-2000) of the international program Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) by UNESCO (SCOR/IOC-UNESCO)
- Working Group 97 of the Special Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) of the International Council for Science (ICSU)
- Several expert teams studying climate change in Catalonia
- Jury for the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology
- Centre Excursionista de Catalunya
Selected Research Publications
Here are some of the scientific papers Marta Estrada has published:
- Marta Estrada. 2011. Ecologia de les marees roges: discurs de recepció de Marta Estrada i Miyares com a membre numerària de la Secció de Ciències Biològiques. Editor Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Secció de Ciències Biològiques, 35 pp. ISBN: 84-9965-067-8, ISBN: 9788499650678
- Clara Llebot, Yvette H. Spitz, Jordi Solé, Marta Estrada. 2010. The role of organic nutrients and dissolved organic phosphorus in the phytoplankton dynamics of a mediterranean bay. A modeling study. Journal of Marine Systems 83: 192–209.
- Jordi Solé, Antonio Turiel, Marta Estrada, Clara Llebot, Dolors Blasco, Jordi Camp, Maximino Delgado, Margarita Fernández-Tejedor, Jorge Diogène. 2009. Climatic forcing on hydrography of a Mediterranean bay (Alfacs Bay). Continental Shelf Res. 29 (200): 1786–1800.
- Marta Estrada, Peter Henriksen, Josep M. Gasol, Emilio O. Casamayor, Carlos Pedrós-Alió. 2004. Diversity of planktonic photoautotrophic microorganisms along a salinity gradient as depicted by microscopy, flow cytometry, pigment analysis and DNA-based methods. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 49: 281–283.
- Marta Estrada. 2004. El Dr. Ramón Margalef y la oceanografía. Colaboró Sociedad Española de Ficología. 2 pp.
- Marta Estrada, Elisa Berdalet, Magda Vila, Cèlia Marrasé. 2003. Effects of pulsed nutrient enrichment on enclosed phytoplankton: ecophysiological and successional responses. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 32: 81–71.
- Marta Estrada, Ramiro A. Varela, Jordi Slat, Antoni Cruzado, Enric Arias. 1999. Spatio-temporal variability of the winter phytoplankton distribution across the Catalan and North Balearic fronts (NW Mediterranean). Journal of Plankton Research, 21: 1-20.
- Marta Estrada, Elisa Berdalet. 1998. Effects of turbulence on phytoplankton. D.M. Anderson, A.D. Cambells, G.M Hallegraeff (eds.). Physiological ecology of harmful algal blooms. NATO-ASI Series, vol. G41, Springer Verlag, Berlin, pp. 601–618.
- Marta Estrada. 1995. Dinoflagellate assemblages in the Iberian upwelling area. En: Lassus, P., Arzul, G., Erard, E., Gentien, P., Marcaillou, C. (eds.): Harmful marine algal blooms. Technique et Documentation. Lavoisier, Intercept Ltd. Cachan, pp: 157–162.
- Marta Estrada. 1995. El fitoplancton antártico. Vol. 167 de Informes técnicos de Scientia Marina. Editor Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (CSIC), 15 pp.
- Marta Estrada. 1986. Mareas rojas. Vol. 132 de Informes técnicos del Instituto de Investigaciones Pesqueras. Editor Centro Nacional de Ciencias del Mar, 16 pp.
- Marta Estrada. 1978. Estudios sobre poblaciones de organismos acuáticos en medio no uniforme. Editor Universidad, Secretariado de Publicaciones, Intercambio Científico y Extensión Universitaria, 28 pp.
