The deep sea sponge Geodia barretti in a future ocean
Description
The deep-sea sponge Geodia barretti is one of the most abundant species in widespread sponge grounds in the North Atlantic. These sponge dominate ecosystems provide habitats for diverse invertebrates and economically important fish species. By forming habitats and filtering enormous amounts of seawater sponge grounds are supposed to offer valuable, yet unquantified, ecosystem services to humankind. To predict how the biological activity of the key sponge species G. barretti might shift under changing environmental conditions we expose sponge individuals to treatments, resembling future ocean conditions (decreased seawater pH, inceased seawater temperature). Throughout the planned long term exposure of one year, the physiological performance (respiration rate, clearance rates, nutrient uptake/release) of the sponges will monitored, to quantify treatment dependant shifts in performances. The experiments are based at the University of Bergen/Norway (Erasmus funding for staying in Bergen possible).
Used skills
- Multiple-stressor experiments
- Physiological measurements
- Handling and maintenance of sensitive deep sea invertebrates
Requirements
- Technical knowledge and experience in aquaria experiments is preferred
- Readiness to work in cold environments (Bergen in general, but also in cold laboratories and cold water aquaria)
- Please note that you will need to secure funding for travel and accommodation yourself (Erasmus funding possible)