Open position: Ph.D. candidate in molecular ecology of flat oysters

The Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Gothenburg invites applications for a Ph.D. candidate in molecular ecology of flat oysters.

Subject description
Although European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) constitute a potentially important marine resource, and that Scandinavian populations are still unaffected by the parasites that have decimated populations on the European mainland, little has been done to investigate where there may be barriers to gene flow along the coasts of Scandinavia, or if there are differences in genetic diversity between geographic areas or local adaptations to environmental factors. With new genomic methods, there are now also excellent conditions for dramatically increasing the understanding of the underlying factors behind adaptations, and for predicting which factors will be important for stocks when the marine environment changes in the future due to global environmental changes (especially climate change and ocean acidification). This project is based on a combination of field studies, breeding of oysters and laboratory experiments linked to genomic and bioinformatic methods to increase the knowledge of flat oyster ecology and population genetics. The project is also linked to marine management through the development of a better classification scheme for management based on genetic data.

Employment conditions
Applicants will work in an international research group within a project aimed at investigating population structure, local adaptations, and resilience to global environmental changes in European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) in Scandinavia. This group includes researchers at the Department of Marine Sciences, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Agder and the Swedish Environmental Institute IVL.

The work will be based at the Tjärnö Marine Laboratory at University of Gothenburg outside Strömstad, and the doctoral student is expected to work with combinations of field and laboratory experiments of local adaptations, tolerance to e.g. pH and temperature changes, and to examine the genomic background to differences in tolerance levels between individuals and between populations.

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Apply by: 2020-04-19