Emilio Ortega
Casamayor
Expertise: Limnology
Affiliation: CSIC, Blanes, Spain
Who am I and what do I do
As you probably know Spanish people have
two family names. The first, Ortega, comes
from my father and Casamayor is the surname
of my mother. I decided to use my mother's
name in the scientific world but sometimes
I got mistakes for that! Some think that
I am two different people! Anyway, my mother
is very happy with the decision I took
(and my father too!). As scientist I work
in the Center for Advanced Studies in Blanes
(one of the 100 Research Centers that the
Spanish Council for Scientific Research-CSIC-
has in Spain). Blanes is a beautiful city
in the Spanish Mediterranean Costa Brava,
very close to the French border and to
the Pyrenees High Mountains. Here I work
as aquatic microbial ecologist. I study
planktonic bacteria in their natural environments.
I also study who they are, what they do
and what they did and probably will do
as a response to the different Global Changes
the planet Earth has suffered.
Expedition role
As in any place in the world microbes
are present in Licancabur. Millions of
them! Who they are and what they do is
the question I want to answer. I will collect
several liters of water, filter them to
collect the smallest plankton and use different
DNA technologies to analyze the samples.
I will not use the microscope! Morphologically,
these bugs are not very diverse. Most of
them appear as little rods (bacilli) and
spheres (cocci) under the microscope. Therefore,
different species cannot be told apart
just by looking at them (as we would do
with birds or fishes).
What made you study science?
I became a scientist because I realized
it is one of the most exciting things you
can do in your life. I also realized when
I was a kid because a great Spanish naturalist,
Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente, entered home
every week through the TV screen. Then
I took advantage from the opportunities
I had to enter the University and I was
lucky to have good teachers. I can say
that freedom is one of the most precious
gifts that science gives to me. Freedom
and the sweet taste of a discovery.
Family, hobbies, interests, etc.
My family leaves in Barcelona. In fact
my father moved to Barcelona from Andalucia
when he was a kid and my mother did the
same coming from the center of Spain. And
they met in Barcelona! I grew up in Barcelona
but I spent summers with my grandfather
working as a farmer. I can still smell
the wheat fields, the olive trees and the
vineyards. I love field landscapes. I love
the smelt of Mediterranean forest. Living
here is certainly a privilege. We can swim
in the Mediterranean Sea and enjoy the
sun in summer and we can climb and skiing
in the Pyrenees in winter.
Parting words for students and teachers
Be ready to profit from the opportunities
that will inexorably pass in front of you.
And remember that the beauty can also be
found in the smallest things!
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