RETAMAL, Leira
Ph.D. student in Oceanography 


Département de Biologie
Pavillon Vachon
Université Laval, Québec
Québec G1K 7P4
Canada


Phone: 1-418-656-2131
Fax: 1-418-656-2043
Email:leira.retamal.1@ulaval.ca


Leira completed her undergraduate studies in Marine Biology at the University of Valparaíso, Chile. Her undergraduate thesis on the effect of UVB on mat forming cyanobacteria from the temperate zone of Chile was supervised by Vivian Montecino at the University of Chile. The topic of her thesis made Leira to know the work of Warwick Vincent on polar cyanobacteria and eventually brought her to begin a PhD with him in Canada. During her undergraduate studies Leira also began to work on ocean bioptics in many cruises along the Chilean coast and in the insular and fjords of Chile.

Presently Leira’s interests are concentrated on polar estuaries and on the dynamics and characterization of coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM). This interest expends to the optical effects of climate change on the spectral underwater light regime and primary production. Leira has collected the data for her PhD from Great Whale River at Kuujjuarapik (2002-2003) and from the Mackenzie River and Beaufort Sea as part of the ARDEX cruise in 2004.


REFEREED PUBLICATIONS:


Vivian Montecino, Rosa Astoreca, Gadiel Alarcón, Leira Retamal, Gemita Pizarro. 2004. Bio-optical characteristics and primary productivity during upwelling and non-upwelling conditions in a highly productive coastal ecosystem off central Chile (~36°S). Deep-Sea Research II 51 : 2413–2426


Vivian Montecino, Ximena Molina, Ginger Martinez, Maria-Isabel Olmedo, Leira Retamal, Gabriela Hannach & Monica V. Orellana. 2001. Ecophysiological strategies in response to UV-B radiation stress in cultures of temperate microalgae isolated from the Pacific coast of South America. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. 74:293-311.


Leira Retamal, Warwick F. Vincent, Christine Martineau and Christopher L. Osburn. 2007. Comparison of the optical properties of dissolved organic matter in two river-influenced coastal regions of the Canadian Arctic. Estuarine, Coastal shelf science 72: 261-272.


NON-REFEREED PUBLICATIONS:


Beatriz U. Ramirez, Leira Retamal, Cecilia Vergara. 2003. Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor (CNTF) affects the excitable and contractile properties of innervated skeletal muscles. Biol. Res. 34 (3-4) R134


Leira Retamal 1999. Effects of UV radiation on benthic cyanobacteria Spirulina subsalsa, Oersted. BSc Thesis, in the Instituto de Oceanología, University of Valparaíso, Valparaíso Chile. 61pp


AWARDS:


Award of recognition at the ASLO Summer Meeting 2005 for the best student poster: Leira Retamal, Sylvia Bonilla and Warwick F. Vincent 2005. Optical, pigments and primary production gradients in the Mackenzie River and coastal shelf, West Canadian Arctic.