Names of the supervisors: Alexander Eiler (UiO), Adriana Lopes dos Santos (UiO), Denise Ong Rui Ying (UiO)
Collaborators: Eivind Stensrud (eDNA solutions AB, Sweden)
Preferred project period: September 2025 – June 2027
Background
Anthropogenic drivers such as climate change, eutrophication, and overfishing are putting coastal marine systems under pressure. One result is coastal darkening, where coastal waters are becoming darker and less clear, leading to reduced light penetration in the water column. In the Oslofjord, coastal darkening has been observed in the last decade, causing a delay in the spring bloom and shifts in planktonic microbial eukaryote (microeukaryote; i.e. protist) species composition. However, the consequences on a spatial scale across the Oslofjord are not well resolved.
You will use eDNA-based metabarcoding to assess the coastal protist diversity. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has revolutionized marine biodiversity monitoring. By capturing traces of DNA from organisms in the environment, eDNA metabarcoding allows us to detect elusive, rare, and invasive species with high sensitivity. eDNA methods are particular powerful for microbial species such as rRNA gene metabarcoding.
Project description
In this project, you will continue to work on a citizen science-based time-series dataset with sampling sites across the Oslofjord. In the initial stages of the project, you will contribute to developing and testing a novel method for sample preservation and subsequent DNA extraction and purification. The method will be optimized for marine water samples with low DNA concentrations, such as those from the Oslofjord, and tested under real world conservation monitoring scenarios. The existing samples (from 2022), together with newly collected samples (2025-2026) processed with your developed protocols, will be used for eDNA-based metabarcoding to assess the diversity of protists. You will also process data on salinity, nutrients and water color to put biodiversity data in the context of coastal darkening.
You will coordinate the citizen scientists together with other master students and collaborators at Oslofjords Friluftsr?d.
Learning outcomes
After the completion of the project, you have better understanding of eDNA methodology and its applications in biodiversity monitoring, skills in molecular laboratory methods, including DNA extraction, library preparation for metabarcoding, as well as bioinformatics and multivariate analyses using the R language and document with GitHub. You will also develop skills in experimental design and method development, critical thinking particularly in the context of environmental conservation and data uncertainty, and report writing using the LaTeX script language. The project includes laboratory work at UiO and may include occasional sampling cruises in Oslofjord, to collect samples.
What We Offer
We offer an inclusive and stimulating research environment where you are encouraged to join the research group activities and engage with other students and researchers at AQUA. This work will be part of the project “Coastal Ecosystem Dynamics under Anthropogenic Pressures” https://www.mn.uio.no/ibv/english/research/sections/aqua/research-projects/coastal-ecosystems/index.html
If you are interested
Please send us a brief description of yourself and of your motivation for this project. alexander.eiler@ibv.uio.no, a.l.d.santos@ibv.uio.no or d.r.y.ong@ibv.uio.no