Svenja Heesch is a German

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, algologist,

biogeographer 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, ...

, curator and explorer, and is a specialist in the

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

families.

Academic career

In 2005 Heesch completed her Ph.D. at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, supervised by Akira Peters and Catriona Hurd. Prior to this she had completed a diploma at the Institute of Marine Science,

Kiel University Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public University, public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ...

. Heesch undertook postdoctoral research at NIWA before returning to Europe, where she has worked at the

Scottish Association for Marine Science The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is the UK's oldest ocean research and education charity (established 1884) based near Oban, Argyll, on thEuropean Marine Science Park It is a founding partner of the University of the Highlan ...

, the Ryan Institute of the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

, and the Roscoff Biological Station, Brittany. Now based at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

, Heesch has received funding to research the taxonomy of

Prasiolaceae Prasiolaceae is a family (biology), family of green algae in the order Prasiolales. Members of this family are found in freshwater, terrestrial, and marine habitats. Algae in the family Prasiolaceae consist of thalli with blades a single cell th ...

from the

Svalbard archipelago Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

, and to integrate molecular and morphological approaches to clarify relationships within the family.

Awards and honours

In 2018 Wendy Nelson and Judy Sutherland named a species of filamentous algae '' Prasionema heeschiae.'' Nelson and Sutherland wrote that "The specific epithet honours Svenja Heesch, our colleague who has made significant contributions to the study of the Prasiolales". It is the first recorded species of the genus ''Prasionema'' in the southern hemisphere, and was collected from Campbell Island.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heesch, Svenja 21st-century German women scientists German science writers New Zealand women botanists Botanists with author abbreviations University of Otago alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people