Closing date for applications: 2017-01-31
Type of employment: Fixed-term employment, 4 years
Extent: 100 %
Location: Department of Marine Sciences, Gothenburg
First day of employment: According to agreement
Reference number: UR 2016/1287
The Department of Marine Sciences, the Faculty of Science, University of Gothenburg, was recently launched (July 1, 2015) with the purpose to achieve the vision of "A University with marine research, teaching and cooperation of the highest international class". The department has about 110 employees - researchers, teachers, PhD students, technicians and administrators. The department carries out teaching and research in the various marine specializations, biology, oceanography, chemistry, marine geology, conservation of underwater cultural heritage, and environmental science. Research is conducted both within specialized individual projects as well as within larger interdisciplinary programs. The Department is situated in Gothenburg and at the University's research stations at Tjärnö and Kristineberg. This position is placed in Gothenburg. More information on the Department can be found at www.marine.gu.se.
Project description
Live to tell: Have phytoplankton evolved in response to environmental pollution during the last century?
Several marine ecosystems are suffering from multiple anthropogenic threats, such as collapse of fisheries, harmful algal blooms, spread of dead zones in deep water, and heavy metal and organic pollution. The biomass and health of the fish at the top of the food web, is not only affected by humans but also from the bottom of the food web (i.e. phytoplankton). If the environment is perturbed phytoplankton species composition may change and switch from dominance of high food quality phytoplankton, to species of low quality, or even toxin producers. Currently, we don't know why some phytoplankton are resilient to human-induced changes, while others disappear. Since species shifts at the base of the aquatic food chain can have enormous implications throughout the trophic web, we need not only to understand species interactions, but also the underlying intra-specific mechanisms. An outstanding question is whether resilient phytoplankton survive due to plasticity which allows for growth at different conditions, or due to selection of resistant genotypes.
This Formas funded project is a collaboration between University of Gothenburg and Lund University and aim to determine which process (plasticity or adaptive evolution) that allows certain phytoplankton species to remain resilient to rapid environmental change, while others disappear or go extinct. The approach is to use high-throughput DNA sequencing, population genetic analyses, and ecotoxicological tests on populations of marine diatoms.
Job assignments
The main task is to conduct a PhD thesis work under supervision, which includes development of the PhD student?s methodology experience, analytical skills, and theoretical depth and breadth.
The PhD students project will consist of formulating hypotheses, experimental design, field sampling, establishing microalgal cultures, molecular biological laboratory work, ecotoxicological laboratory experiments, genome sequencing, genome analyses, and population genetic analyses.
The studies will include analysis and compilation of results in scientific articles and will lead to that the PhD student writes a final summarizing thesis. The PhD student will also present results at conferences, seminars and at project meetings. As member of the project team it is expected that the PhD student communicate and actively collaborates within the group.
