Uppsala University hereby declares the following positions to be open for
application:
Two PhD-student positions in Plant Ecology with direction marine biology
At the Department of Ecology and Evolution
We seek two highly motivated individuals interested in pursuing a PhD
degree in Plant Ecology within a research program on the ecology of marine
algae
PhD-project 1: Oxidative stress in Baltic plankton communities
This project will concentrate on the physiological basis of ecological
processes. Changing environmental conditions may create environmental
stress which is often expressed as oxidative stress within living cells.
Oxidative stress is recognised as a physiological condition established
when the production of reactive oxygen species exceeds the antioxidant
defensive systems of organisms, resulting in oxidative damage of cell
membranes and nucleic acids. This may affect species interactions. For
example, phytoplankton species with highly effective antioxidant defences
may have an advantage in competition with other species and the quality of
phytoplankton as food for zooplankton may be affected by the oxidative
stress status of the phytoplankton cells. This PhD-project aims at (1)
characterising and quantifying stress responses of Baltic phytoplankton
communities to environmental factors such as nutrients, temperature,
irradiation and contaminants and (2) identifying the role of oxidative
stress in interactions within and between species, including zooplankton
grazing on phytoplankton. The project will include biochemical analyses
using spectrophotometry, high-performance liquid chromatography and
functional proteome analyses (for studying gene expressions), as well as
statistical analyses of collected data. Experiments will be performed in
Uppsala, at field stations in the Baltic Sea area and on the Swedish west
coast, and on board of ships.
PhD-project 2: The role of Baltic phytoplankton in the supply of vitamins
to higher trophic levels
Vitamin deficiency has recently been documented in top predators such as
salmon and seabirds in the Baltic Sea area. This can be caused by a low
production of vitamins in the ecosystem or by a high need for vitamins
through environmental stress (e.g. pollutants). Practically all vitamins
in
the sea have their origin in phytoplankton communities. Vitamin
requirement
and production in microalgae have been studied in aquaculture, but very
little is known about these processes in natural aquatic food webs. This
PhD-project aims at (1) characterising and quantifying the production and
transport of vitamins A, B1, C, E and others with emphasis on the role of
phytoplankton (2) identifying vitamin deficiency problems at different
trophic levels of the major pelagic food chain in the Baltic Sea:
phytoplankton, zooplankton, herring/sprat, cod/salmon. The project will
include biochemical analyses using spectrophotometry and high-performance
liquid chromatography, as well as statistical analyses of collected data.
Experiments will be performed in Uppsala, at field stations in the Baltic
Sea area and on the Swedish west coast, and on board of ships.
Within the general subject area there will be considerable scope for the
PhD-students to develop their own interests and to influence the emphasis
of their projects. The announced position is planned for four years
full-time. Wages increase successively from ca. 14.500 to ca. 20.500 SEK
per month
Applicants should possess a BSc or MSc degree in a biological subject
relevant for the PhD-projects described above, and should have a strong
interest in practical ecological field work as well as the use of
biochemical methods to study key questions in ecology.
For further details: see http://www.vaxtbio.uu.se/resfold/Snoeijs.htm or
contact professor Pauli Snoeijs, pauli.snoeijs@DROPMEebc.uu.se, tel. +46 18 471
2885.
Please submit your CV, a letter describing your research interest and
skills, a copy of your masters thesis or equivalent, and contact
information for two references to Registrator, UFV-PA 2005/XXXX (for
correct number, see
http://www.personalavd.uu.se/ledigaplatser/engindex.html), Uppsala
University, Box 256, SE-75105 Uppsala, Sweden, before May 2, 2005
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Pauli Snoeijs, Professor
Home page research: http://www.vaxtbio.uu.se/resfold/snoeijs.htm
Home page teaching: http://www.ibg.uu.se/te_snoeijs_pauli (in Swedish)
Uppsala University
Evolutionary Biology Centre Tel.: +46 18 4712885
Dept. of Plant Ecology Fax: +46 18 553419
SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden Email : Pauli.Snoeijs@DROPMEebc.uu.se
