Postdoctoral Position in Marine Microbiology

Ocean life contributes ~50% to global primary production and understanding implications of global change for the microbial primary producers at the base of the food web is critically important to predict consequences for global carbon cycling. While the photosynthetic microbes collectively referred to as phytoplankton, are traditionally regarded as purely photosynthetic, many of them can also feed on other microbes.

These so-called mixotrophs thus combine a ‘plant-like’ with an ‘animal-like’ nutrition, and the relative importance of these two processes to their growth may shift in response to environmental conditions and affect the net impact of mixotrophs on carbon cycling. In this project we will assess the responses of mixotrophs to future ocean conditions including warming and ocean acidification.

What are you going to do?

In this project you will design and perform shipboard incubation experiments on two scientific cruises in the North Atlantic Ocean to assess the response of mixotrophs to global warming and ocean acidification. For this purpose, you will establish novel stable isotope probing techniques to quantify the role of diverse mixotrophs in the marine carbon cycle. The fieldwork in the North Atlantic Ocean can be complemented with and calibrated against laboratory experiments with cultured mixotrophic protists. You will supervise BSc and/or MSc student internships that align with the postdoc project. If desired, there is a possibility to gain additional teaching experience.