Position: Postdoctoral fellow
SZN Dept: Integrative Marine Ecology
Email: german.zapata(at)szn.it
Telephone: +39 081 5833 673
Twitter: @Kayeha_biomar
Web: SZN webpage
Web: Google scholar
Personal keywords: #Benthos #CommunityEcology #StableIsotopes #Trophodynamics
Scientific interests in a nutshell:
During my career, I have participated in different research projects in Chile and several scientific expeditions and oceanographic cruises. In these projects, I have studied both deep-water benthic communities in the South Pacific (e.g., continental margin, methane seeps and seamounts), as well shallow communities in oceanic islands (Juan Fernández archipelago, Easter Island and Desventuradas islands), Patagonian fjords and Antarctica peninsula. My research work have included i) the characterization of benthic communities (e.g., visual census surveys, ROV and other methods), ii) the traced of origin and fate of organic matter (e.g., photo- and chemosynthetic origin) through different shallow and deep-water marine environments (using bulk stable isotopes), iii) analyses of ecological dynamics and trophic role of benthic marine communities, and iv) the assessment of the impacts of eutrophication process on intertidal and mesophotic communities. My current research involves the study of potential impacts of wildfires on benthic marine food webs in Sardinia.
Selected publications:
Zapata-Hernández G., Gorny M, Montiel A. (2022). Filling ecological gaps in Chilean Central Patagonia: Patterns of biodiversity and distribution of sublittoral benthic invertebrates from the Katalalixar National Reserve waters (~48°S). Frontiers in Marine Sciences, 9:951195
Zapata-Hernández G., Muñoz P. & Sellanes J. (2022). Stable isotopes reveal overlooked incorporation of diffuse land-based sources of nutrients and organic matter by intertidal communities at Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Marine Pollution Bulletin, 176:113415
Zapata-Hernández G., Hinojosa I., Sellanes J., Ríos R. & Letourneur Y. (2021). Diel changes in the structure and trophic functioning of motile benthic invertebrate assemblages at coral reefs in Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Marine Biology, 168:154
Zapata-Hernández G., Sellanes J., Letourneur Y., Harrod C., Morales N., Plaza P., Meerhof E., Yannicelli B., Carrasco S.A., Hinojosa I., & Gaymer C. (2021). Tracing trophic pathways through the marine ecosystem of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 31:304-323
Zapata-Hernández G., Sellanes J., Thiel M., Henríquez C., Hernández S., Fernández J.C.C., & Hajdu E. (2016). Community structure and trophic ecology of megabenthic fauna from the deep basins in the Interior Sea of Chiloé, Chile (41°-43° S). Continental Shelf Research, 130:147-167