PhD: Using Ecological Genomics to study the Effects of Climate Change and Invasive Species on Blue Mussels (Mytilus edulis) in the Wadden Sea

This PhD project at GELIFES, University of Groningen, aims to understand how anthropogenically driven environmental pressures are affecting blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) in the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mussels are ecosystem engineers and vital to the overall functioning of the intertidal ecosystem, providing substrate and protection for benthic organisms, and are a critical resource for coastal and migratory birds like knots and oystercatchers. The introduction of the invasive Pacific Oyster in the late 1970s has led to a proportional decline in pure mussel beds and an increase in Oyster reefs and mixed beds in the Wadden Sea. Approximately half of all reef-forming structures in the Dutch Wadden Sea are blue mussels, while the Lower Saxon region has seen a complete dominance of mixed beds, with 80% of the wet biomass consisting of Pacific Oyster. While these two species can coexist, the impact of Pacific oysters on the blue mussel population remains unknown. Increased competition for resources and changes in environmental conditions are likely to influence individual fitness; however, the extent to which this affects genetic diversity remains unexplored. In addition, climate change is disproportionately warming shallow intertidal ecosystems. Some areas of the Wadden Sea have experienced an increase of almost 2 degrees in surface water temperature over the last 60 years, which is nearly double the global mean increase.  As environmental conditions change, a critical question is whether blue mussels can cope with future environmental conditions. Unresolved questions include how blue mussels respond to their environment at the molecular level and how resilient they are in coping with unprecedented environmental changes.

The successful candidate will get the opportunity to work with cutting-edge sequencing approaches and develop state-of-the-art computational resources to develop analytical workflows. A primary task is to generate a genomic dataset that allows us to test for genetic differences between environmental conditions. Genotype-by-environment (or similar) analysis combined with environmental models will be utilised to assess the vulnerability of blue mussels under different PICC climate change projections. The students will be required to design and conduct fieldwork, lab work, and bioinformatic analysis. The results will be used to assess the impact of anthropogenically driven environmental changes on blue mussels. Insights will contribute to the development of informed management strategies that consider the long-term impact of unprecedented ecological change and help maintain a resilient Wadden Sea ecosystem. The position is placed at the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life-Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen.

More information can be found at University of Groningen website.