The Marine Biologist Podcast brings you conversations about marine life with leading marine biologists. If you are fascinated by the sea and its inhabitants and want to go deeper, this is the podcast for you.
Each episode follows up on an article on cutting-edge science, conservation, or education that appeared in the most recent edition of The Marine Biologist magazine.
Visit the magazine website: https://www.mba.ac.uk/magazine/
Join the Marine Biological Association: https://www.mba.ac.uk/membership/
Marine fungi are an overlooked but influential part of the ocean microbiome.
DNA sequencing has revealed a vast diversity of marine fungi: floating freely in the water column, inhabiting sediments, and forming close associations with other organisms, fungi are found almost everywhere scientists look.
In this episode our guest is PhD researcher Caitlin Dye, who works in the Microbiology and Molecular Ecology lab (https://www.mba.ac.uk/microbiology-ecology-cunliffe/)at the Marine Biological Association.
As Caitlin explains, fungi have vital roles in recycling organic matter and helping regulate planktonic communities through parasitism.
Caitlin is a PhD student at the MBA with the University of Plymouth.
11 Aug 2026
Mud, glorious mud!
Let’s face it, a muddy seabed is not the most charismatic of settings. And, with a low perceived value for biodiversity, historically mud has not been a high priority for protection.
In this episode we meet Zoe Roseby, a sedimentologist working at the University of Exeter.
Zoe explains where seabed mud comes from and which areas of mud are vulnerable to disturbance. The seabed sediments around the UK tell the story of the last ice age, changes in sea level, and recent human activities like trawling. We talk about MPAs and protecting mud for climate benefit. But to determine if a mud basin is vulnerable in terms of losing the carbon it stores, it is important to understand its history and the type of carbon held in the mud—which varies from site to site and even within sites.
Zoe is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Exeter working with the Convex Seascape Survey, a five-year project which is run by the University of Exeter and the Blue Marine Foundation and funded by the Convex Insurance Group to investigate carbon in continental shelf sediments.
Read Zoe’s research paper to find out more: Vulnerability of blue carbon stocks to disturbance in sediments with low burial efficiency (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322725002014?via%3Dihub)
Find out more about the Convex Seascape Survey (https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1958156/episodes/convexseascapesurvey.com).
Text us your comments and feedback (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1958156/fan_mail/new)
Thanks for listening!
If you have any questions you can contact us at the Marine Biological Association here (https://www.mba.ac.uk/our-membership/).
Join the Marine Biological Association (https://www.mba.ac.uk/membership/) and receive four copies a year of The Marine Biologist, our prestigious and beautifully curated magazine. MBA membership comes with a host of other benefits.
Follow us on social:
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@thembauk.bsky.social
21 Jul 2026
The Power of Plankton
Plankton are the foundation of life on Earth, evolving and shaping the planet over billions of years.
In this episode, Vincent Doumeizel, author of The Power of Plankton: How Plankton Made Life On Earth Possible and Why It’s Key To Our Future (https://thebooksocial.co.uk/products/the-power-of-plankton?_pos=1&_sid=e95ed6637&_ss=r), talks about plankton and why it is fundamentally important for the survival of life on Earth as we know it.
We talk about some of the engaging stories in the book, for example, why did Alain Bombard cast himself adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in rubber dinghy with only a plankton net? Are we Martians? And why hope will play such an important role in the fight to protect ocean biodiversity.
The Power of Plankton, the new book from Vincent Doumeizel, bestselling author of The Seaweed Revolution, is published by The Book Social.
Thanks for listening!
Join the Marine Biological Association (https://www.mba.ac.uk/membership/) and receive four copies a year of The Marine Biologist, our prestigious and beautifully curated magazine. MBA membership comes with a host of other benefits.
Follow us on social:
www.facebook.com/thembauk (http://www.facebook.com/thembauk)
www.instagram.com/thembauk (http://www.instagram.com/thembauk/)
@thembauk.bsky.social
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