Anita Gerry Johanna Buma (born 1958) is a Dutch

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

researcher, best known for her work on

ecophysiology Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , '' -logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to enviro ...

of marine

microalgae Microalgae or microphytes are microscopic algae invisible to the naked eye. They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. They are unicellular species which exist indiv ...

. She was the first

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

female researcher in Antarctica.

Early life and education

Buma obtained her Biology master's degree at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

(1984). She then moved to the Royal Institute for Sea Research (

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of De ...

, The Netherlands) where she began her PhD research on Antarctic

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

growth and

species composition Species richness is the number of different species represented in an community (ecology), ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the Abundance (ecology), abunda ...

. Upon invitation by

Alfred Wegener Institute The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (German: ''Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung'') is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association o ...

for Polar und Meeresforschung Bremerhaven, Germany, she participated in two field campaigns (Ark III, legs 1,2 and 3) to the

Fram Strait The Fram Strait is the passage between Greenland and Svalbard, located roughly between 77°N and 81°N latitudes and centered on the prime meridian. The Greenland and Norwegian Seas lie south of Fram Strait, while the Nansen Basin of the Arctic ...

, high Arctic, in 1985, where she studied phytoplankton abundance and species composition. Buma defended her PhD thesis in 1992 at the University of Groningen.

Career and impact

Buma's research focuses on (marine) microalgal ecophysiology and diversity in response to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. Specific research topics include impacts of trace metals, enhanced UVR and changing meltwater dynamics on growth and diversity of marine Antarctic phytoplankton. Since 1992, Buma devoted her work to the possible adverse impacts of enhanced UV-B radiation on Antarctic phytoplankton, as a result of

stratospheric ozone The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere, although still small in relat ...

depletion. As a result of this work she obtained a ''Meervoud'' Grant in 2002 by the

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course of ...

. This research was focused on ''Effects of trace nutrients on the defense potential of oceanic phytoplankton against solar ultraviolet radiation.'' Within this project she worked for one year at the Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, as a guest researcher. Buma has been the chair of the Department of Ocean Ecosystems at the Faculty of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen since January 2012. She was a member of the Netherlands Polar Committee from September 2010 – August 2014 and member of the Dutch SCAR committee between 2005 and 2010. She also served in the Scientific Advisory Board of the trilateral (Argentinean, German, Dutch) Research station Dallmann Research Station, King George Island, between 2006 and 2011, and in the Scientific Steering Committee Dutch Antarctic Rothera Station research facilities between 2011 and 2013. Buma was the Chief Editor of the Dutch popular science book “Door de kou bevangen” (2016), about fifty years of history of Dutch polar research.

Selected works

* ''Buma, A.G.J.,'' H.J.W. de Baar, R.F. Nolting, A.J. van Bennekom. 1991. Metal enrichment experiments in the Weddell-Scotia Seas: Effects of iron and manganese on various plankton communities. ''Limnol. Oceanogr.'' 36(8): 1865-1878 * Alderkamp A.-C., Mills M.M., Van Dijken G.L., Laan P., Thuroczy C.-E., Gerringa L.J.A., De Baar H.J.W., Payne C., Tortell P., Visser R.J.W., ''Buma A.G.J.'', Arrigo K.R. 2012. Iron from melting glaciers fuels phytoplankton blooms in Amundsen Sea (Southern Ocean): Phytoplankton characteristics and productivity. ''Deep-Sea Research'' 71-76: 42-48

References

External links

Anita Buma's webpage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buma, Anita 1958 births Living people Dutch ecologists Dutch women scientists People from Groningen (city) University of Groningen alumni Academic staff of the University of Groningen Women earth scientists Women Antarctic scientists