Home
Centre for Geobiology

Main content

MEET PACO CARDENAS

text and photos by Courtney Flanagan

Paco Cardenas has been a field biologist from the time he was a small boy; he came to specialize in sponge taxonomy however by happy accident!

From junior high he knew he wanted to be a scientist. He got his university degrees and teacher preparation from the Universities of Toulouse, Lyon and Texas. He took the very competitive national teacher's exam, did well, and earned a permanent position in the teaching of biology and geology in France at any level from junior high through university. Taking advantage of the opportunity offered him to take an extra year of study before beginning as a teacher, he got his master's degree in rodent taxonomy. He was interested in the kind of rodents found in Africa, rodents in the same family as porcupines. He got his degree at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, which was for him a dream since he had always been fascinated by the museum's huge collections. He had another, life changing, experience at the museum; he met his future partner, Cecile Jolly, a scientist also working on her Master's degree.

When Cecile travelled to Bergen in Norway to work on her PhD, Paco commuted from his teaching job in Paris for two years, and then decided it was time to move to Bergen. He initially got small jobs in the lab, but was one day asked by one of the senior scientists to look at a paper on sponges to see if it interested him enough to study. It did, and in short he ultimately applied for and was accepted as a PhD candidate.

In the pursuit of his degree, Paco has travelled rather extensively, which he sees as a definite plus in the life of the research scientist. Since his father is Colombian, he was particularly happy about the chance to work in Central America. While in Panama, he identified what are probably three new species of sponges, about which he is currently writing a paper. He has likely identified another new species in Norway.

His particular PhD focus is Astrophorida, a group of sponges whose spicules (skeletal structures) look particularly like stars. He is using genetics and morphology to study how they have evolved. Paco speaks quite passionately about his belief in the importance of studying morphology along with genetics, when exploring taxonomy. He explained for example that a species from his particular group was found at one point to have some chemistry that might be useful as an anti-HIV drug. However, since a mistake was made in identifying the particular sponge, it is most unlikely that it will be found again!

Paco talked to us a little bit about evolution. He explained that formerly taxonomists tended to put species in boxes based on what they looked like. For example, bats and seagulls both have wings, so they would both go into the same box. Darwin changed all that by saying that what clarified a species was its ancestor. Species should be in the same "box" because they have the same ancestor. However, the difficulty with this search is that evolution is not a straight path. It has not gone directly from the simple organism to the complex, but has had a myriad of twists and turns. Species is not necessarily a definite population. Many species, for example, can reproduce with a different species. "You cannot," he said, "put nature in a box."
Even in our human lives this is difficult. He gave an example based on the fact that he is both Latino and Caucasian. When he needs to fill a form and check one box, Latino or Caucasian, he cannot do it.

In particular, the teachers have enjoyed very much Paco's presence in the video observation room during the ROV dives. He gives us a running narration of what we are seeing, and looks up information to share later on any species about which he is not clear.. It is sort of like our own live Discovery Channel!. This very engaging Frenchman says that he loves the fact that teaching continues to be part of his job description, even now that he is primarily a research scientist. He clearly is a great teacher, and we teachers hope that he will continue to be part of our profession at least in some part!

 

Paco Cárdenas (norsk)


Doktorgradsstudent ved Biologisk institutt, Universitetet i Bergen
Tekst og foto: Anne Karin Wallace
Paco er en av to franske deltakere på toktet, og han er en av fire makrobiologer om bord. Paco har så lenge han kan huske vært interessert i alle typer levende vesener, og da han skulle begynne å studere var det ikke vanskelig for ham å velge biologi. Han er utdannet lektor fra Frankrike og har arbeidet tre år som lærer ved en videregående skole i Paris. I Frankrike undervises biologi og geologi som ett fag i skolen, så når Paco har biologilærerutdanning kan han også mye om geologi. Han har vært på geologiekskursjon i Alpene med elevene sine, og når vi så putelava på havbunnen her kunne han fortelle at han har sett det samme i Alpene.

Lærerutdanningen tok Paco i Toulouse, Lyon og ett år som utvekslingsstudent i Austin, Texas. Da han var ferdig utdannet ønsket han å få oppfylt en drøm han hadde hatt fra han var barn: Å få jobbe et år ved det naturhistoriske museet i Paris. Drømmen ble oppfylt ved at han arbeidet der ett år på en mastergrad med tema evolusjon innen en gruppe av Afrikanske gnagere. Mens han jobbet der ble han kjent med Cecile, som også er biolog, og det er på grunn av henne Paco havnet i Bergen som doktorgradsstudent.

Det var en tilfeldighet at Paco kom i kontakt med Hans Tore da han kom til Bergen. Etter at de to møttes gikk det ikke lang tid før Paco var i gang med doktorgradsstudier. Paco skal finne ut av evolusjonshistorien til en gruppe svamper som heter Astrophorida. Svampene i denne gruppen har spikler som ser ut som stjerner. Inntil for få år siden manglet man teknologien som er nødvendig for å arbeide med DNA og taksonomene så hovedsakelig på morfologiske trekk når de skulle beskrive arter og avgjøre hvilke som er beslektet. Når det nå er mulig å sammenlikne gener har vi fått et verktøy som kan brukes sammen med morfologien. Paco skal arbeide både med morfologi og genetikk innen sin svampgruppe.

Fra hele verden er det beskrevet 660 arter som hører til gruppen Astrophorida, men det blir sannsynligvis flere når Paco har publisert arbeidene sine. Arbeidet med taksonomi er nemlig ikke bare mikroskopering og sekvensering av DNA, han arbeider også med innsamling av materiale slik som på dette toktet. Sammen med Hans Tore er han ofte ute i båt på Korsfjorden ved Bergen og henter opp svamp fra bunnen ved hjelp av skrape. Han har tidligere vært på to tokt ved Norskekysten. I fjor var han om bord i det tyske forskningsskipet Polarstern på tokt på norskekysten. Da fikk han faktisk være med på et dykk med bemannet ubåt utenfor Lofoten. Dessuten har han samlet svamper både i Panama og i Costa Rica.

Paco er ferdig med doktorgraden sin om to år. Kanskje drar han da tilbake til lærerjobb i Frankrike, kanskje blir det forskning eller noe annet et eller annet sted i verden.