Schwerpunkte und Forschungsinteressen
I am a marine ecologist. My research focuses on assessing potential changes in food web structure and functioning through space and time. Using various trophic markers (e.g., bulk carbon and nitrogen isotopes, compound specific stable nitrogen isotopes on amino acids, fatty acids…) in marine predators (e.g., fish, seals, birds, polar bears), and holistic food web models (e.g., ecological network analyses), I study how food webs are being reshaped in response of climate change and anthropogenic impacts.
Aktuelle Projekte
2022-now
DAM pilot mission: effects of the exclusion of mobile bottom contacting fisheries on benthic food web structure and functioning in marine protected areas (NATURA 2000) of the German EEZ of the Baltic Sea, University of Rostock, Germany
Wissenschaftlicher Werdegang
2020-2022
Post Doc Research associate as part of the BMBF funded project BluEs (Blue Estuaries): “Impact of climate change and anthropogenic stress on food web functioning in the Baltic Sea”, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Rostock, Germany
2017-2020
Post Doc Research associate as part of the NERC funded project ARISE: “Can we detect change in Arctic ecosystems”, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK
2016-2017
Post Doc Research associate, Coastal ecology, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany, Wadden Sea station Sylt
2012-2016
PhD student: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany, Wadden Sea station Sylt; “Influence of top predator on the Wadden Sea food web”
2011 Oct-Dec
Operation-manager assistant, on the RV Marion Dufresne, French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor (IPEV)
2008-2010
MSc Oceanography and Marine Environments, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris 6 (France), specialty anthropisation, management and conservation of marine environments
2007-2008
BSc Biology, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris 6 (France)
Publikationen:
de la Vega C., Paar M., Köhler L., Von Dorrien C., Kriegl M., Oesterwind D., Schubert H. (2023). Trophic redundancy in benthic fish food webs increases with scarcity of prey items, in the Southern Baltic Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, 1010.
*de la Vega C, *Buchanan PJ, Tagliabue A, Hopkins JE, Jeffreys RM, Frie AK, Biuw M, Kershaw J, Grecian J, Norman L, Smout S, Haug T, Mahaffey C (2022). *Shared first authorship. Multi‐decadal environmental change in the Barents Sea recorded by seal teeth. Global change biology 28:3054-3065. doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16138
Buchanan PJ, Tagliabue A, de la Vega C, and Mahaffey C (2022). Oceanographic and biogeochemical drivers cause divergent trends in the nitrogen isoscape in a changing Arctic Ocean. Ambio 51:383-397. doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01635-6
Tuerena RE, Mahaffey C, Henley SF, de la Vega C, Norman L, Brand T, Sanders T, Debyser M, Dähnke K, and Braun J (2022). Nutrient pathways and their susceptibility to past and future change in the Eurasian Arctic Ocean. Ambio 51:355-369. doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01673-0
de la Vega C, Mahaffey C, Yurkowski DJ, Norman L, Simpson E, Smout S, Ferguson SH, and Jeffreys RM (2021), Biomarkers in ringed seals reveal recent onset of borealization in the high-compared to the mid-latitude Canadian Arctic. Frontiers in Marine Science p. 1256. doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.700687
*Kershaw JL, *de la Vega C, Jeffreys RM, Frie AK, Haug T, Mahaffey C, Mettam C, Stenson G, and Smout S (2021). *Shared first authorship. Compound-specific isotope analyses of harp seal teeth:
tools for trophic ecology reconstruction. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 678, 211-225. doi.org 10.3354/meps13867
Tuerena RE, Hopkins J, Buchanan PJ, Ganeshram R, Norman L, von Appen WJ, Tagliabue A, Doncila A, Graeve M, Ludwichowski KU, Dodd PA, de la Vega C, Salter I, Mahaffey C (2021), An Arctic strait of two halves: The changing dynamics of nutrient uptake and limitation across the Fram Strait. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 35(9), e2021GB006961. doi.org/10.1029/2021GB006961
Tuerena R, Ganeshram R, Hopkins J, Norman L, de la Vega C, Jeffreys R and Mahaffey C (2021), Nitrate assimilation and regeneration in the Barents Sea: insights from nitrogen isotopes. Biogeosciences, 18(2), 637-653. doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-637-2021
de la Vega C, Mahaffey C, Tuerena RE, Yurkowski, DJ, Ferguson SH, Stenson GB, Nordøy ES, Haug T, Biuw M, Smout S, Hopkins J, Tagliabue A, Jeffreys RM (2020), Arctic seals as tracers of environmental and ecological change. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 6(1), 24-32. doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10176
Carravieri A, Burthe SJ, de la Vega C, Yonehara Y, Daunt F, Newell MA, Jeffreys RM, Lawlor AJ, Hunt AG, Shore RF, Pereira MG, Green JA (2020), Interactions between environmental contaminants and gastrointestinal parasites: novel insights from an integrative approach in a marine predator. Environmental Science & Technology. 54(14), 8938-8948.https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c03021
de la Vega C, Jeffreys RM, Tuerena R, Ganeshram R, Mahaffey C (2019), Temporal and spatial trends in marine carbon isotopes in the Arctic Ocean and implications for food web studies. Global change biology. 25(12), 4116-4130. doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14832
Horn S, de la Vega C, Asmus R, Schwemmer P, Enners L, Garthe S, Haslob H, Binder K, Asmus H (2019), Impact of birds on intertidal food webs assessed with ecological network analysis. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 219:107-19. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2019.01.023
Paar M, de la Vega C, Horn S, Asmus R, Asmus H. (2019), Kelp belt ecosystem response to a changing environment in Kongsfjorden (Spitsbergen). Ocean & coastal management. 167:60-77. doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.09.003
Baird D, Asmus H, Asmus R, Horn S, de la Vega C (2019), Ecosystem response to increasing ambient water temperatures due to climate warming in the Sylt-Rømø Bight, northern Wadden Sea, Germany. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 228:106322. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106322
Blevin P, Andersen M, Blanchet MA, Hanssen L, Herzke D, Jeffreys R, Nordøy E, Pinzone M, de la Vega C, Routti H (2019), Key drivers of pollutant levels in Barents Sea polar bears with contrasted space-use strategies, Environmental Science & Technology. 54(2), 985-995. doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b04626
de la Vega C, Schückel U, Horn S, Kröncke I, Asmus R, Asmus H. (2018), How to include ecological network analysis results in management? A case study of three tidal basins of the Wadden Sea, south-eastern North Sea. Ocean & coastal management. 163:401-16. doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.07.019
de la Vega C, Horn S, Baird D, Hines D, Borrett S, Jensen LF, Schwemmer P, Asmus R, Siebert U, Asmus H (2018), Seasonal dynamics and functioning of the Sylt-Rømø Bight, northern Wadden Sea. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 203:100-18. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2018.01.021
de la Vega C, Lebreton B, Lehnert K, Asmus R, Siebert U and Asmus H (2017), Stable isotope composition and parasitic infections of harbor seal young‐of‐the‐year used as prey‐based diet indicators. Mar Mam Sci, 34:7-26. doi.org/10.1111/mms.12433
Horn S, de la Vega C, Asmus R, Schwemmer P, Enners L, Garthe S, Binder K and Asmus H (2017), Interaction between birds and macrofauna within food webs of six intertidal habitats of the Wadden Sea. PLOS ONE 12(5): e0176381. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176381
de la Vega C, Lebreton B, Siebert U, Guillou G, Das K, Asmus R and Asmus H (2016), Seasonal Variation of Harbor Seal's Diet from the Wadden Sea in Relation to Prey Availability. PLOS ONE 11(5): e0155727. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155727
Horn S and de la Vega C (2016). Relationships between fresh weight, dry weight, ash free dry weight, carbon and nitrogen content for selected vertebrates. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 481:41-48. doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2016.04.010