The departments of Coastal Systems (COS; principal investigator dr. Eleonora Puccinelli) at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) is looking for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellow to join our research on phytoplankton-zooplankton food web interactions in the North Sea.
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 Department
The department of COS is one 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 PROJECT
Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are an essential part of the nutritional requirements for all living organisms. The primary source of these fatty acids in aquatic systems is phytoplankton. The amount of omega-3 produced varies among phytoplankton taxa, and the composition of the community, which depends on a range of factors including nutrient availability. Zooplankton is a major primary consumer of phytoplankton, representing a key trophic link between the primary producers of omega-3 and various secondary consumers. This project aims to increase our knowledge of omega-3 production and transfer across marine trophic levels focussing on the North Sea. This work is part of the large EU-HORIZON ACTNOW project, which aims to advance our understanding of cumulative impacts on European marine biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services for human wellbeing. Working on samples already collected in the North Sea as part of the ACTNOW project in June 2023, the postdoc would be focussed on processing these for fatty acid and stable isotope analyses. The candidate will be responsible for the sample analyses and validation of the results, as well as writing scientific publications within the duration of this postdoc. The data generated will be linked to a range of other datasets already available for the study system. Additionally, we envision the postdoc being actively involved in the supervision of Master students while embedded in the team of Dr Puccinelli at NIOZ.
