PhD student in Ecotoxicology

Link to the full add, selection criteria and contact information: https://www.su.se/english/about-the-university/work-at-su/available-jobs/phd-student-positions-1.507588?rmpage=job&rmjob=21784&rmlang=UK

The Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at Stockholm University invites applications for a four-year PhD position part of the project “Fish mediated carbon, nutrient and contaminant cycling in a warmer Baltic”, which is one of 12 PhD positions in the new interdisciplinary graduate school “Perspectives on climate change in coastal seas”. It is directed to students who are interested in pursuing a doctoral degree in marine and environmental sciences addressing the role of the coastal zone in climate feedbacks. You will join a network of students and scientists in natural and social sciences at Stockholm University who explore coastal zones in the Baltic Sea. Read more at www.su.se/balticseacentre/graduateschool.

This PhD project aims at assessing the consequences of the shift in fish community composition; from herring and coastal predatory fish, like perch, to sticklebacks and round gobies, for carbon, nutrient and contaminant cycling on the ecosystem level with focus on the coastal area in the archipelago. A warmer Baltic Sea benefits both fast growing algae and cyanobacteria as well as opportunistic consumer species, resulting in largely unknown consequences for nutrient and contaminant cycling. As an example, fish biomass act as a nutrient stockpile, potentially locking away elemental resources that promote phytoplankton growth.

The PhD student will use a combination of methods including seasonal field surveys, bioacoustics and bioenergetic modelling as well as isotope and mercury analyses of collected biological samples.

Starting date upon agreement between candidate and employer.