María Fernanda Montero del Pino

María F. Montero is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). She studied Marine Biology at the University of La Laguna, and then, in 1993 she obtained her Ph.D. in Marine Sciences (Biological Oceanography) at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). She was then granted a pre-doctoral scholarship by the "Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia" (Spanish Government), and subsequently, a two year postdoctoral scholarship by a MAST European Project. In 1998 she achieved a technician position at the ULPGC, and in 2013 she was appointed Associate Lecturer.

Her work has focused on the study of respiratory activity in microplankton communities, combining direct measurements of Respiration (R) and enzymatic Electron Transport System (ETS) activity. A paper from her thesis (published in 1995 in the Journal of Plankton Research) revealed, for the first time, a close relationship between R and ETS activity at global-ocean scale. She stayed for two months researching respiration (from phytoplankton cultures and marine samples) with Dr. Rosa Martínez at the "Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas" (CSIC) in Blanes, Spain (May-July 1989), and two months at the "Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología" of Mazatlán, Mexico (January-February 1991). Plus, she participated in seven oceanographic cruises in the NE Atlantic, Gulf of California and Antarctic Ocean (150 days on board).

Currently, her research interests include the study of the links between plankton community structure, plankton metabolism (particularly microbial respiration) and the dynamic of the organic matter in the sea . Also. she is working on searching for water-quality indices through monitoring and evaluation of microbial marine communities.

• Phytoplankton and microbial ecophysiology
• Flow cytometry
• Microbial enzymatic activities