Annick Wilmotte is a Belgian

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 research on the diversity and ecology of Antarctic cyanobacterial microflora. A genus of Antarctic cyanobacteria, called ''Wilmottia'' was named after her in recognition of her work in this field.

Early life and education

Wilmotte completed her MSc (Botanical Sciences) at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

in 1982. Her thesis investigated the use of epiphytic marine cyanobacteria as indicators of pollution of Calvi Bay,

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

, France. She subsequently completed her PhD in Botanical Sciences from the

. The title of her thesis was "Contribution to the taxonomic and ecological characterisation of marine epiphytic Oscillatoriaceae (Cyanophyceae) of the experimental cultivation and nucleic acid studies".

Career and impact

Wilmotte, currently Research Associate of the FRS-FNRS, working at the

, has recognized research experience in the isolation, cultivation, and characterisation of cyanobacteria by phenotypic and genotypic methods, has contributed to the molecular taxonomy of cyanobacteria and has highlighted the importance of Antarctic microbial diversity. Her polar work concerns the microscopic and genotypic diversity of cyanobacteria in Antarctic microbial mats (MICROMAT, LAQUAN, AMBIO) and the use of fossil DNA for cyanobacterial paleodiversity reconstruction (HOLANT). Willmotte is coordinating the BELSPO project CCAMBIO using high-throughput methodologies to investigate the microbial biodiversity and

biogeography Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

in lacustrine benthic mats at the scale of the Antarctic continent. She also was involved in the study of the diversity of

picoplankton Picoplankton is the fraction of plankton composed by cells between 0.2 and 2 μm that can be either prokaryotic and eukaryotic phototrophs and heterotrophs: * photosynthetic * heterotrophic They are prevalent amongst microbial plankton communit ...

ic cyanobacteria in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

and Arctic Sea. Since 2011, she has been the promoter and curator of the BCCM/ULC public collection of cyanobacteria, a dedicated public collection, currently containing one of the largest collections of documented subpolar cyanobacteria worldwide. The collection accepts deposits of polar cyanobacteria and allows their distribution to scientists and industries, for further research. Wilmotte has been the Belgian delegate to the Committee for Environmental Protection at the Consultative Meeting of the

Antarctic Treaty russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico , name = Antarctic Treaty System , image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder , image_width = 180px , caption ...

since 2008. She is also Secretary of the Belgian National Committee on Antarctic Research of the Royal Academy of Belgium and a Belgian delegate to the Standing Scientific Group- Life Sciences of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research since 2012.

Scientific outreach

Wilmotte is recognised for her work in scientific outreach on the Antarctic Treaty and also on the importance of Antarctic microorganisms.

Awards and honours

A new cyanobacterial genus (''Wilmottia'') originally described from Antarctica was dedicated to her by colleagues. She was awarded the l'Adjudant Lefévre of the Sciences of the Royal Academy of Belgium in 1999.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmotte, Annick Living people Antarctic scientists Belgian microbiologists Belgian women scientists Female polar explorers University of Liège alumni Women Antarctic scientists 20th-century Belgian scientists 21st-century Belgian scientists Women microbiologists Year of birth missing (living people)