Disciplines: Paleoceanography, paleoecology, paleogenomics
Supervisors: This project will be supervised by Senior Researcher Agnes Weiner (agwe@norceresearch.no - molecular biologist) and Research Professor Bjørg Risebrobakken (bjri@norceresearch.no - paleoceanographer).
Background: The most extreme anthropogenic-driven warming can be observed in the Arctic. Such warming does not only change the physical marine environment but also the marine biodiversity inhabiting these increasingly warmer waters. Identifying the consequences of climate change on Arctic ecosystems is in many locations complicated by the simultaneous influence of other stressors than climate change (e.g. resource depletion, pollution). Within this project, we will circumvent this problem in two ways: 1) by reconstructing oceanographic characteristics and biodiversity responses to the recent warming in a pristine fjord system and 2) by comparing the recent warming with changes that have occurred in the early Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM). The focus of the work will be on the pristine Independence Fjord System, NE Greenland, where ecosystem changes are expected to reflect pure climate-driven responses. This project will leverage unique sediment archives from the Independence Fjord system for combined paleoclimate, paleoecology and paleogenomics studies.
Aim: To determine the effects of a warm climate (HTM) and rapid recent warming on pristine Arctic ecosystems through reconstructions of ocean characteristics and changes in biodiversity in the Independence Fjord System.
Methodologies: This project combines the application of paleoceanographic methods with paleogenomics (sedimentary ancient DNA). You will apply geochemical analyses on foraminifera, in combination with information from physical properties, for reconstructing past environmental conditions. To understand how biodiversity responded to environmental changes in the past, you will use sedimentary ancient DNA to trace past changes in biodiversity. Specifically, your tasks will be to produce high-throughput sequencing data from ancient DNA samples to reconstruct past marine communities and characterize their taxonomic diversity. You will work in our molecular biology and ancient DNA laboratories to extract environmental DNA from sediment cores. You will then apply metabarcoding or metagenomics to recover ancient ocean biodiversity and analyse the data using bioinformatics. Finally, you will combine the biodiversity and oceanographic data using multivariate statistics. You will disseminate the results of your research by publishing articles in relevant peer-reviewed journals, by presenting at (inter-)national conferences and by attending project meetings.
Qualifications:
The successful candidate should either have:
- Experience with molecular biology techniques (DNA extraction, PCR amplification, sequencing) and high-throughput sequencing data analysis (metabarcoding/metagenomics).
Or:
- Experience with trace element and/or stable isotope analyses, and/or basic knowledge on use of foraminifera for paleoclimatic and palaeoceanographic studies.
In addition:
- A background and interest in paleoecology/-oceanography and marine ecology is an advantage.
- Basic knowledge of bioinformatics and tools for data processing and visualization (e.g., R, python) is an advantage.
- Experience in statistics (especially multivariate) is an advantage.
- Applicants must have excellent abilities to work in a well-structured and autonomous manner, and to collaborate across disciplines.
- Applicants must have excellent abilities for critical thinking and writing.
- Proficiency in both written and oral English is required.
Contact information: For further information, please contact the supervisors at agwe@norceresearch.no and/or bjri@norceresearch.no.
