The departments of Coastal Systems (COS; principal investigator dr. Eleonora Puccinelli) and the Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry (MMB; principal investigator prof. dr. Corina Brussaard) at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) are looking for a highly motivated PhD student to join our research on zooplankton dynamics and grazing in the North Sea. You will be part of the Monitoring and Research Programme for Nature Enhancement and Species Protection (MONS), and closely collaborate with other PhDs in the program. Specifically, this PhD is part of a collaborative project between NIOZ and IBED-UvA, where the PhD on phytoplankton production and dynamics will be employed at the Univ. of Amsterdam (UvA) and the current PhD on zooplankton dynamics in the North Sea at NIOZ.
THE INSTITUTE
NWO-NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research is the Dutch national oceanographic institute and principally performs academically excellent multidisciplinary, fundamental, and frontier applied marine research addressing important scientific and societal questions pertinent to the functioning of the ocean and seas. NIOZ includes the National Marine research Facilities (NMF) department that operates a fleet of research vessels and the national pool of large seagoing equipment, and supports excellence in multidisciplinary marine research, education, and policy development.
THE DEPARTEMENTS
The departments of COS and MMB are two of the research departments of NIOZ. The COS department integrates state-of-the art laboratory, field, and modelling studies in the dynamics of marine species and food webs. COS examines how physical, chemical, and biological processes interact to determine the distribution, composition, and productivity of marine species across the food web, in marine habitats from the coast to pelagic environments.
The MMB Department studies microbial communities, dynamics and interactions in all types of marine environments, from the North Sea to the deep ocean. The department is equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and facilities for flow cytometry, microscopy, molecular and biochemical analyses, and has an excellent level of technical support.
THE PROJECT
The North Sea has been subject to a range of local and global anthropogenic impacts, including global warming, anthropogenic nutrient load, fisheries, and development of off-shore windfarms. Yet, information is lacking on the interactive effects of these factors on plankton food web in the North Sea and on the consequent effects on the productivity of the system and food quality, challenging our capacity to design management strategies that allow a sustainable productivity and biodiversity of the North Sea, or predict responses of the marine food web to future environmental changes.
The MONS programme, coordinated by Rijkswaterstaat (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management), aims to understand how the changing use of the North Sea aligns with its ecological carrying capacity. Several factors, such as the construction of wind farms (affecting light conditions), warming and nutrient supply, may impact the foundation of the food web, which in turn affects the entire ecosystem. To fully grasp these effects, more knowledge is needed on the underlying processes. The insights generated in MONS are used for the implementation of the agreements in the North Sea Treaty.
THE POSITION
One of the pillars of the MONS program is research into the dynamics, community composition and interactions between phytoplankton and their zooplankton consumers. The flow of carbon and nutrients from primary producers to higher trophic levels is top-down controlled by grazing by micro- and mesozooplankton, viral lysis and mixotrophy. As PhD student in the MONS program, you will apply a combination of sea-going research, mesocosms and laboratory experiments, to investigate the spatial and seasonal patterns in zooplankton composition and grazing rates, and examine how environmental change (e.g., temperature, nutrient availability and turbidity) impact zooplankton growth, traits (stoichiometry, stable isotope and fatty acid compositions), community composition, and trophic transfer efficiency.
You will present the data from the field and lab experiments within the departments, at meetings of the MONS program, and at (international) scientific conferences. You will prepare scientific articles and publish your results in international scientific journals. Lastly, you aim to complete the PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years.
This PhD position is tightly linked another PhD position of the MONS programme, on phytoplankton dynamics in the North Sea PhD Phytoplankton Dynamics in the North Sea Job Details | UvA together, the two PhD students will join the research cruises and run experiments, to assess interactions between zooplankton and phytoplankton prey communities. As part of the team of MONS PhDs you are expected to actively exchange ideas and results within the MONS community and specifically the pillar that focuses on the basis of the food web.
You will be supervised by a team of scientists from the NIOZ and the University of Amsterdam (IBED/UvA), Training and courses during the PhD trajectory will be offered by NIOZ, and via the UvA by the Graduate School for Production Ecology & Resource Conservation (PE&RC).
