SIMONA LAUKAITYTE

Marine Biologist - Ecologist - Nature Lover

About Me

I am a marine biologist and have been working on seagrass for over a decade now, shifting my interest from plant structure to species roles and interactions to connectivity among the ecosystems. Apart from research, I love diving, hiking, exploring and simply being in nature.

I love hiking,

bush walking, tracking in small or bigger groups of people, when starting a conversation with a complete stranger yet finishing it with a new friend

Underwater photography

is my way to "tell" how beautiful is this undiscovered world for many !

Nature escapes

immersing in one of the plenty stunning places on this planet that can be far away or just around the corner, this is where i disconnect, recharge, and come up with new ideas

Videos

Amazing Seagrass - vlog about my research in Tenerife Island The fun of the party lies in sharing and listening.

Photos

a glance into my personal life

Projects

Relationship between Sydney cockle and seagrass Z. muelleri

Seagrasses suppot life under water, no doubt. Roots penetrate sediment oxygenating deeper layers and enabling macro and micro communities to flourish, and leaves serve as food, substrate and shelter for various organisms. However, there is still a lot to discover and understand about seagrass ecosystems, and one of the mysteries is why Sydney cockle, Anadara trapezia, densly allocate themselves around seagrass shoots rather than bury in bare sediment areas.

The role of mega bioturbators for seagrass growth

Have you ever wondered why seagrass patches have quite sharp edges and do not expand into bare sediment areas as would do their terrestrial cousins? It might be because of hydrodynamic forces but also, it might be due to the activity of certain creatures that excavate young seedlings this way controlling the coverage of seagrasses and assuring the underwater realm is divers and there is space for everybody!

The role of infauna in seagrass establishment

Chicken or egg came first? I turn this question around and ask, was it seagrass or infauna that came first to lay the base for seagrass ecosystem? Costly seagrass restauration efforts end up giving unsatisfying results, and it is because there are a lot of components in healthy ecosystem that must work in synergy. This project addresses the interspecific relationship component between infauna and seagrasses and its importance in the first steps of the development of the seagrass ecosystem.

Ocean acidification effects on seagrass in tropical waters

Project led by AWI (Sylt, Germany) in collaboration with Hasanuddin university (Makassar, Indonesia) to test the ocean acidification impact on tropical slow growing seagrass E. acoroides, in the natural environment in situ.

Effects of active compounds from two eelgrass species on cancerogenic cells

My master thesis project where I isolated biochemically active compounds of seagrasses Z. marina and Z. noltei, and tested their anti-oxidative activity as well as potential tool for neuronal and liver cancer treatment.

Effects of nacre water soluble proteins from freshwater mollusks on myogenic stem cells

The undergraduate thesis project where I learned to make water soluble protein extracts from native freshwater clams, applied the extracts on rabbit myogenic stem cells and observed the changes in cell viability, growth and proliferation using digital video fluorescence microscopy.

Simona Laukaityte