MSc Natalia Szymańska
PhD Student


Department of Paleoceanography
Laboratory Of Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Micropaleontology

Institute of Oceanology PAN
Powstańców Warszawy 55
81-712 Sopot
POLAND
tel: (+48 58) 7311781

natalia [at] iopan.gda.pl



Education and positions:
  • 2024–2026:   Early Career Director at the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research
  • 2023– present:   Assistant Professor at the Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences
  • 2016–2022:   PhD candidate at the Department of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences
  • 2013–2015:   MSc in marine geology at the University of Gdańsk, faculty of Geography and Oceanography;
  • 2011–2012:   ERASMUS programme participant in University of Gothenburg, Sweden;
  • 2010–2013:   BSc in geological oceanography at the University of Gdańsk, faculty of Geography and Oceanography.
Main scientific interests:
  • impact of climate change on past and present foraminiferal assemblages;
  • role of foraminifera in the global carbon cycle;
  • sedimentary processes of Northern European fjords;
  • Holocene history of Nordic Seas.
Project leadership:
  • Foraminiferal carbon share in a land to ocean transect (Everglades). Project funded by the Polish-U.S. Fulbright Commission. Duration: 06.2021-12.2021;
  • Foraminiferal carbon share in sedimentary carbon pool of Svalbard and Northern European fjords. Project funded by the National Science Centre of Poland. Duration: 2017-2020.
Project participation:
  • ACCESS – Assessment of atlantifiCation influenCe on the migration of the thermophilic foraminifEra SpecieS to the European Arctic during Holocene. Project funded by the National Science Centre of Poland. Participation: 2023-ongoing
  • NEEDED – Sedimentary ancient DNA – a new proxy to investigate the impact of environmental change on past and present biodiversity in Nordic Seas. Project funded by the National Science Centre of Poland. Participation: 2022-2024
  • Holocene history of the Greenland Gyre. Project funded by the National Science Centre of Poland. Participation: 2017-2020
  • Paleogenetic reconstruction of Atlantic water advection into the Arctic Ocean over the Holocene. Project funded by the National Science Centre of Poland. Participation: 2016-2019
  • DWARF – Declining size – a general response to climate warming in Arctic fauna? Project funded by EEA/Norway Financial Mechanism Project. Participation: 2016-2017
  • Dinocysts as the paleoceanographic indicator of the sea ice. Late Holocene history of the sea environment of Hornsund and Storfjorden (Svalbard). Project funded by the National Science Centre of Poland. Participation: 08.2017-09.2017
  • Face2Face – two faces of the Arctic fjords in the changing world. Project financially supported by the National Science Centre of Poland. Participation: 2016
Publications:
  • Devendra D., Łącka M., Szymańska N., Szymczak-Żyła M., Krajewska M., Weiner A. K., De Schepper S., Simon M. H., Zajączkowski, M., 2023. The development of ocean currents and the response of the cryosphere on the Southwest Svalbard shelf over the Holocene. Global and Planetary Change, p.104213.
  • Nguyen N. L., Devendra D., Szymańska N., Greco M., Angeles I. B., Weiner A. K., Ray J. L., Cordier T., De Schepper S., Pawłowski J., Pawłowska J., 2023. Sedimentary ancient DNA: a new paleogenomic tool for reconstructing the history of marine ecosystems. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, p.1185435.
  • Szymańska N., Łącka M., Koziorowska K., Kuliński K., Pawłowska J., Telesiński M. M., Zajączkowski M., 2021. Foraminifera‐derived carbon contribution to sedimentary inorganic carbon pool: A case study from three Norwegian fjords. Geobiology, 19(6), 631-641.
  • Kujawa A., Łącka M., Szymańska N., Telesiński M. M., Zajączkowski M., 2021. Could Norwegian fjords serve as an analogue for the future of the Svalbard fjords? State and fate of high latitude fjords in the face of progressive “atlantification”. Polar Biology, 44, 2217–2233.
  • Hänninen J., Weckström M., Pawlowska J., Szymańska N., Uurasjärvi E., Zajaczkowski M., Hartikainen S., Vuorinen I. 2021. Plastic debris composition and concentration in the Arctic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.i> Marine Pollution Bulletin, 165.
  • Łącka M., Michalska D., Pawłowska J., Szymańska N., Szczuciński W., Forwick M., Zajączkowski M., 2020. Multiproxy paleoceanographic study from the western Barents Sea reveals dramatic Younger Dryas onset followed by oscillatory warming trend. Scientific Resports 10, 15667.
  • Telesiński M., Szymańska N., Pawłowska J. Zajączkowski M., 2020. Does the foraminiferal test size reflect changes in palaeoenvironmental conditions? – a case study from the southern Svalbard shelf. Polar Research, 39.
  • Kucharska M., Kujawa A., Łącka M., Pawłowska J., Szymańska N., Zajączkowski M., 2018. Seasonal variability of benthic foraminifera assemblages in Adventfjorden, Spitsbergen. Polar Biology, 42(3), 569–580.
  • Szymańska N., Pawłowska J., Kucharska M., Kujawa A., Łącka M., Zajączkowski M., 2017. Impact of shelf-transformed waters (STW) on foraminiferal assemblages in the outwash and glacial fjords of Adventfjorden and Hornsund, Svalbard. Oceanology, 59, 525–540.
  • Pawłowska J., Łącka M., Kucharska M., Szymańska N., Koziorowska K., Kuliński K., Zajączkowski M., 2017. Benthic foraminifera contribution to fjord modern carbon pools: A seasonal study in Adventfjorden, Spitsbergen. Geobiology, 15, 704–714.
International conferences:
  • 2023   FORAMS 2023. Perugia, Italy
    Presentation title: Climate change induced decrease in foraminifera abundance in an Arctic fjord (Hornsund, Svalbard). Implications for carbon burial.
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Magdalena Łącka, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2022   EMBS (European Marine Biology Symbosium), Gdańsk, Poland
    Presentation title: Modern climate change impact on foraminifera assemblages of Hornsund (Svalbard).
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Magdalena Łącka, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2021   Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (GSA Connects 2021), Portland, USA
    Presentation title: Foraminiferal contribution to sedimentary carbon pool in high-latitude fjords.
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Joanna Pawłowska, Magdalena Łącka, Katarzyna Koziorowska-Makuch, Karol Kuliński, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2019   EGU (European Geosciences Union) Conference. Vienna, Austria
    Presentation title: Share of foraminifera derived carbon in sediments of Northern European and Svalbard fjords.
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Agnieszka Kujawa, Joanna Pawłowska, Magdalena Łącka, Małgorzata Kucharska, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2019   13th International Conference on Paleoceanography. Sydney, Australia
    Presentation title: Foraminifera derived carbon in fjord sediments- implications for the processes of carbon burial.
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Agnieszka Kujawa, Magdalena Łącka, Joanna Pawłowska, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2019   PalaeoArc Conference. Poznan, Poland
    Presentation title: Implications for the processes of carbon burial from δ13C of foraminifera tests and δ13C of sediments in which they live.
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Agnieszka Kujawa, Magdalena Łącka, Joanna Pawłowska, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2018   FORAMS 2018. Edinburgh, Scotland
    Presentation title: Foraminiferal carbon share in sedimentary carbon pool of Svalbard and Norwegian fjords.
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Agnieszka Kujawa, Joanna Pawłowska, Magdalena Łącka, Marek Zajączkowski
  • 2017   The Arctic Science Summit Week 2017. Prague, Czech Republic
    Presentation title: The Patterns of Foraminiferal Test Size Change Along Thermal Gradients.
    Authors: Agnieszka Kujawa, Natalia Szymańska, Małgorzata Kucharska, Magdalena Łącka, Joanna Pawłowska, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2017   2nd International Meeting of Early-Stage Researchers in Palaeontology. Sigri, Greece
    Presentation title: The share of foraminiferal carbon in the sedimentary carbon pool in Adventfjorden (Svalbard).
    Authors: Natalia Szymańska, Agnieszka Kujawa, Joanna Pawłowska, Magdalena Łącka, Małgorzata Kucharska, Marek Zajączkowski.
  • 2016   PAST Gateways Conference, Trondheim, Norway
    Size matters: the response of foraminfera test size to changing climate.
    Authors: Joanna Pawłowska, Magdalena Łącka, Natalia Szymańska, Małgorzata Kucharska, Agnieszka Kujawa, Marek Zajączkowski.
Invited talks:
  • 03.2024   NORCE Norwegian Research Centre seminar entitled: Novel Methods and Challenges in Paleoceanography. 01.2024   Binghamton University Earth Sciences Department seminar on the subject of foraminifera, carbon cycle and calcification processes.
  • 05.2023   Public lecture at “Where the World is heading?” conference in Paris.
  • 06.2022   Sopot Science fair lecture on the subject of DNA usage in paleoceanography.
  • 10.2021   Guest lecturer at Seminar in College of Arts, Sciences & Education (Florida International University, Miami, USA).
National conferences:
  • Szymańska N., Kujawa A., Pawłowska J. Łącka M., Kucharska M., Koziorowska K., Kuliński K., Zajączkowski M., 'Foraminiferal carbon role in carbon pool in sediments of European Arcitc fjords. 2. Foraminiferal carbon share in the sediments of Adventfjorden, Svalbard.' poster; Chemistry, Geochemistry and Protection of Marine Environment Conference, Sopot, 2016.
  • A. Kujawa, Szymańska N., Pawłowska J., Kucharska M., Łącka M., Zajączkowski M. ''Foraminiferal carbon role in carbon pool in sediments of European Arcitc fjords. 1. Seasonal variability of benthic foraminifera assemblages in Adventfjorden, Svalbard' poster; Chemistry, Geochemistry and Protection of Marine Environment Conference, Sopot, 2016.
  • Szymańska N. „Udział otwornic w puli węgla organicznego oraz nieorganicznego w osadach fiordu Adventfjorden (Svalbard)”, presentation, Symposium of Young Oceanographers, 2017.
  • Szymańska N., 'Anthropogenic impact registered in the sediments of Puck Lagoon and the Gulf of Gdańsk based on the diatom analysis' Symposium of Young Oceanographers, 2016.
Field-work experience:
  • 2022   long core sampling during AREX expedition to the Arctic on-board S/Y Oceania (Svalbard continental shelf),
  • 2022   long core sampling during AREX expedition to the Arctic on-board S/Y Oceania (Svalbard continental shelf, Norway continental shelf),
  • 2018   sediment sampling during AREX expedition to the Arctic on-board S/Y Oceania (Greenland continental shelf, Svalbard continental shelf),
  • 2017   sediment sampling during AREX expedition to the Arctic Ocean on-board S/Y Oceania (Svalbard fjords, Svalbard continental shelf),
  • 2013/14   short sediment core sampling on-board R/V Oceanograf II (Gulf of Gdansk, southern Baltic Sea)
Outreach activity:
  • Board member of Sopot Science Association 2020-ongoing.
  • President of the student council in the Institute of Oceanology, PAN, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20.
  • Vice president of the student council in the Institute of Oceanology, PAN, 2016-2017.
  • Time-keeper in “World-café” workshops for school children, 2019.
  • Organizer of science communication lectures at Sopoteka Library, 2019.
  • Exhibitor at the Baltic Science Fair (years: 2013, 2014, 2015).
  • Member of the scientific committee and poster session chair in the international conference "Where the World is Heading?" (6/7/2019).
  • Member of the scientific committee and session chair in the international conference "Where the World is Heading?" (6/11/2021).
Awards:
  • The Joseph A. Cushman Award for Student Travel 2021.
Memberships:
  • Member of the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research,
  • Member of the scientific council in the Institute of Oceanology, PAN, 2019-2022,
  • Member of the European Geological Union,
  • Member of the Sopot Science Association,
  • Member of the Geological Society of America.

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