PhD scholarship in Integrating Ecological and Genomic Diversity for Climate Resilient Marine Spatial Planning – Deadline 01 September 2024

Marine ecosystems, including in Denmark, are under threat from environmental change and rapidly increasing human activity on the sea. In response to this, the EU has proposed a Biodiversity Strategy to protect marine areas. However, prioritising which areas to protect is not straight forward, as optimal solutions need to be based on scientific knowledge of the processes that underlie biodiverse and resilient ecosystems.

To support this process, we advertise for a PhD student with interest in the development and implementation of DNA based methods in aquatic biodiversity conservation. The PhD student will study the integrated application of genomic and ecological diversity data for climate resilient marine spatial planning at the National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua), Denmark, with starting date November 2024.

The PhD project is part of the Danish Aage V Jensen foundation funded project “Integrated ecological, genomic and oceanographic analysis for planning marine habitat protection”. The project is a collaboration between three Danish Universities: Aarhus University, the Technical University of Denmark and Aalborg University. In the project, we will explore marine diversity and habitat connectivity from a number of angles (species, genetic and functional), which will allow us to generalise tools for use beyond target species to other species of interest including invasive species. We collaborate closely with stakeholders from citizen and municipality groups engaging in practical conservation of marine habitats, as well as with international partners from the Institute of Marine Research in Norway.

The PhD project will primarily be carried out at the Section for Marine Living Resources’ population genetics group situated in Silkeborg, Denmark. DTU Aqua is an institute at the Technical University of Denmark. The group works broadly on genetic and genomic analyses aimed at conservation and management of aquatic species.

Responsibilities and qualifications

The PhD project will focus on multiple metrics of biodiversity to support ecosystem-based approaches to biodiversity conservation and management under climate change. Work will focus on species, genetic and functional diversity and on how this can be maintained in a changing climate using spatial planning informed by ecological, genomic and oceanographic analyses.

Using sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) as a model of an ecosystem foundation species, genomic data will be used to identify climate associated diversity, predict climate change vulnerability and estimate gene flow of relevance to future climate adaptation in the foundation species itself. In addition, the successful candidate will use ecosystem species diversity data from environmental DNA in combination with habitat connectivity data, obtained in collaboration with project partners, to provide a holistic understanding of ecosystem response to future climate scenarios.

The successful candidate will: 1) Generate and analyse population genome-wide data from sugar kelp with the aim to make predictions of species and population vulnerability to future climate change, 2) Apply eDNA data from a range of marine habitats and locations, to evaluate associated species diversity and its potential for biomonitoring of select species.

You must have a two-year master’s degree (120 ECTS points) or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to a two-year master’s degree.

A background in population genetics is preferred and experience with bioinformatic analyses of large genomic data sets is an asset.

In addition, we are looking for candidates who have:

• Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Biology, Computer Science or Engineering
• Keen interest in research and the field of marine and aquatic sciences
• Good collaborative skills
• Proficiency in written and spoken English