Supervisors: Nataliya Budaeva, Jon A. Kongsrud & Tom Alvestad

Background:

Arctic marine ecosystems are among the ones that suffer most from the current climate change. An enhanced heat transport from the Atlantic Ocean over the last two decades has led to ocean warming and reduced ice coverage in the Arctic. Comprehensive baseline data on Arctic biodiversity and habitats are required to monitor and successfully conserve the natural environment in times of fast and dramatic climate changes. Annelida is often the dominant taxon in marine benthic communities, and can exceed other macrofaunal groups in density, biomass, and species diversity.

In the project, we will cover both shallow and deep waters surroundings of Svalbard, Jan Mayen, Bjørnøya, coastal waters of Troms and Finnmark, and the western part of the Barents Sea. This region is characterized by significant seasonal and annual climate changes and moderately high productivity. It is a transition zone for warm and saline water flowing from the Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean, and for cold and less saline water moving from the Arctic to the Atlantic.

The student will assess general polychaete diversity but will also focus on one of the poorly studied families with in-depth species inventory using morphological and molecular data.

The proposed master project is a great opportunity for a student to become familiar with diversity of polychaetes in Norwegian waters - a skill highly desirable by potential employers in public and private marine monitoring agencies.

The project will include:

• Yearly sampling trips in the Arctic coastal ecosystems (Svalbard, Finnmark) using a range of gear and small research vessels
• Sorting of marine benthic samples
• Identification of all polychaete families, the student will become familiar with polychaete diversity in Norwegian waters
• Examination of species morphology using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and Sanger sequencing of selected molecular markers
• Work with the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD), data upload, annotation, and analysis
• Phylogenetic analyses of the obtained data (BLAST, alignment, Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Analysis)
• Presenting results on a conference
• Contributing to a publication in a peer-reviewed journal

Contact: Nataliya Budaeva

Student: Eva Samson

Supervisors: Nataliya Budaeva & Tom Alvestad

Background:

The scale worm genus Bylgides is relatively small (combining 9 described species worldwide) but at the same time very conspicuous with all species being very large in size (up to 5-7 cm long). Our materials combine specimens collected from the Nordic waters as well as from the Siberian part of the Arctic. Comparative genetic data are available from the Canadian Arctic and from Alaska.

Preliminary data show the presence of at least 5 species of Bylgides in our samples including a potentially new species.  The objective of this project is to revise the Arctic Bylgides species matching genetic information with the known morphotypes.  One of the tasks will be building the annotated barcode library of the arctic Bylgides and to generate an identification key with illustrations.

The project is a great opportunity for a student to become familiar with all aspects of biosystematics and integrative taxonomy, acquire a wide range of skills in the morphology and molecular analysis, and participate in a scientific publication. The student will have an opportunity to participate in field work in Svalbard and/or Troms and Finnmark (depending on the time frame of the Master thesis).

The project will include:

• Examination of specimens of several species of Bylgides from the University Museum of Bergen collection
• Study of species morphology using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Preparation of scientific illustrations (Adobe illustrator and Photoshop)
• DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and Sanger sequencing of selected molecular markers
• Work with the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD), data upload, annotation, and analysis
• Phylogenetic analyses of the obtained data (BLAST, alignment, Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Analysis)
• Species delimitation analysis
• Presenting results on a conference
• Contributing to a publication in a peer-reviewed journal

Contact: Nataliya Budaeva

Supervisors: Nataliya Budaeva, Dimitar Dimitrov

Background:

Nothria conchylega is a large and peculiar bristle worm with unique lifestyle. The worms live inside their tubes which they build of sediment particles or shell fragments and carry along almost like trichopteran larvae. The species is very abundant and has an extremely large geographical distribution in the Arctic, the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. Despite being a common species, little is known about the population structure of Nothria conchylega. The project aims to analyze the mitochondrial genomes and several nuclear markers obtained from the specimens sampled across the whole geographical range of the species and to study the mechanism supporting the gene flow within its large circumarctic geographical range.

The project supervisors already have data available for the analysis which makes the students work focused more of the data analysis. However additional data can be generated to learn the wet lab techniques. The project is a great opportunity for a student to become familiar with the bioinformatic tools, learn how to analyze large datasets and address complex questions in the Arctic species phytogeography. A motivated student will have an opportunity to join field work in Svalbard or Finnmark (depending on the time frame of the Master project and availability).

The project will include:

• Examination of specimens of Nothria conchylega from the University Museum of Bergen collection
• Sampling tissues for Illumina sequencing
• DNA extraction and library preparation (optional)
• Basic bioinformatic training and handling data in a terminal, learning bash commands
• Basic training on how to work on a remote computer cluster
• Mt-genome and nuclear RNA cluster assembly, BLAST
• Annotation of assembled mitochondrial genomes
• Phylogeographic analysis of the obtained data
• Presenting results on a conference
• Participating in a publication in a peer-reviewed journal

Contact: Nataliya Budaeva

Supervisors: Nataliya Budaeva & Miguel Meca

Background:

Orbiniidae is a diverse group of annelids, comprising more than 200 described species grouped into 20 genera. Orbiniids are common and abundant in shelf habitats, representing essential food resources for fish (including commercial), and are subjects of ecological monitoring investigations. Despite their common appearance in benthic studies, orbiniids are one of the annelid families with unresolved system and unclear diagnoses of most genera. Recent genomic studies showed strong evidence for combining the genera Phylo and Orbinia into one monophyletic group. Both genera comprise the largest is size orbiniid worms reaching several cm in length, they are very conspicuous and are easy to study. Nevertheless, the Nordic Orbinia and Phylo are poorly described and require formal revision, barcode library preparation, and clarification of taxonomic validity.

Preliminary obtained data show the presence of at least one potentially new species of Phylo in Norwegian waters confirmed with molecular data. A formal description of this species with subsequent publication in a per-reviewed journal will be one of the main tasks of the master project. The publication may be finalized beyond the master thesis time frame.

The project is a great opportunity for a student to become familiar with all aspects of biosystematics and taxonomy, acquire a wide range of skills and publish a scientific paper. A motivated student will have an opportunity to join field work in Svalbard or Finnmark (depending on the time frame of the Master thesis and availability).

The project will include:

• Examination of specimens of several species of Orbinia and Phylo from the University Museum of Bergen collection
• Examination of species morphology using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Preparation of scientific illustrations (Adobe illustrator and Photoshop)
• DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and Sanger sequencing of selected molecular markers
• Work with the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD), data upload, annotation, and analysis
• Phylogenetic analyses of the obtained data (BLAST, alignment, Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Analysis)
• Formal description of the new species of Phylo from the Norwegian waters
• Presenting results on a conference
• Writing a publication for a peer-reviewed journal (with help of supervisors)

Contact: Nataliya Budaeva