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