We offer two master’s projects in ecology, DNA-based monitoring and bioinformatics. Ecosystems worldwide are changing at unprecedented rates, driven by anthropogenic activities including habitat degradation or climate change. Aquatic habitats are particularly exposed and increasingly affected, where there is a reduction in both ecosystem functioning and species richness. In addition to warming ocean temperature, overfishing and pollution, negative impacts in marine habitats are often caused by species introduction with their associated. To mitigate the impacts of non-native species and human stressors on marine communities, the establishment of reliable biomonitoring strategies is urgently needed, especially when they implement standardized protocols that can be implemented across large spatial and temporal scales.
A central challenge to marine biomonitoring is the limited access/infrastructure and the associated high costs and logistic complexity of sampling using standard morphological methods. This led to a limited number of large-scale ongoing coastal monitoring programs and surveys. The use of molecular techniques such as environmental DNA (eDNA) based detection has become a reliable and widely used tool in marine biomonitoring. This method relies on the detection of DNA traces left by living organisms in their environment and can easily be integrated as a biomonitoring tool.
Mobilizing the power of eDNA metabarcoding to investigate Arctic aquatic community composition in Svalbard's fjords
Supervisors: Quentin Mauvisseau, Ingeborg Mulder, Martine van den Heuvel-Greve, Paul Renaud and Hugo de Boer
quentin.mauvisseau@nhm.uio.no; ingeborg.mulder@outlook.com; martine.vandenheuvel-greve@wur.nl; per@akvaplan.niva.no; h.de.boer@nhm.uio.no
We set up and conducted an eDNA-based metabarcoding pilot study in two Svalbard fjords (Adventfjorden (Longyearbyen) and Kongsfjorden (Ny-?lesund)). Metabarcoding analyses of eDNA especially offers a revolutionary approach to improve spatial and temporal extensive monitoring of local marine taxa, including invasive or migratory species. eDNA from water and sediment samples, as well as plankton samples were collected and DNA will be extracted before high-throughput sequencing to recover DNA from the targeted groups: mammals, birds, fish, invertebrate, elasmobranch and eukaryotes. This project will focus on the bioinformatics filtering and analysis of the data generated. It is expected that this metabarcoding analysis will provide higher and more accurate resolution of species presence and allow an early detection of newly invading species in Svalbard’s waters.