Master-Studenten/Innen

Tasty Jellyfish?

Bacteria-Jellyfish interactions in marine foodwebs

Bacteria are abundant in all marine habitats, from the sea surface to the greatest depths and are one of the most important players in the marine food web. They are directly or indirectly linked to all partners within the marine food web via nutrient cycling and trophic cascades. In this context, one mostly overlooked link in the marine foodweb is the interaction between bacteria and jellyfish. In recent years, massive blooms of jellyfish were reported all over the world but little is known about the fate of jellyfish biomass, the release of nutrients and of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Although jellyfish reside in the low tropic level of the foodweb, they serve as an important link in the pelagic food web. Jellyfish are poorly consumed by other organisms in the food web, but releasecolloidal and dissolved organic matter (jelly-DOM). This proposed “bypass” of DOM offering additional carbon and energy sources to the bacteria is potentially influencing DOM pathways and even the structure of the microbial community.
 
MASTER-THESIS

In the herein proposed Master-thesis, the candidate will contribute to this important foodweb topic in two ways. On the one hand, DOM released by jellyfish will be quantified by DOC analysis and characterized by high resolution mass spectrometry (FT-CR-MS). On the other hand, it will be analyzed how jelly-DOM influences the natural bacterial community and which bacterial populations might benefit.
The candidate should be interested in chemical analytical methods for DOC and DOM analyses, and also in molecular microbiological methods (FISH, DHPLC, 16S sequencing) for the analysis of the bacterial community.
 
The experimental part of the master thesis and the microbiological analyses will be accomplished at the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland (AWI Helgoland) in summer 2012, DOM and DOC analyses at the ICBM (Max Planck Research Group for Marine Geochemistry) in late autumn 2012.
 
Contact (ICBM):
Jutta Niggemann (jniggemampi-bremen.de, 0441-798-3365)
Thorsten Dittmar (thorsten.dittmaruni-oldenburg.de, 0441-798-3602)
 
Contact (AWI):
Gunnar Gerdts (gunnar.gerdtsawi.de, 04725-819-3245)
Antje Wichels (antje.wichelsawi.de, 04725-819-3257)

*Opportunities in the Mathematical Modelling Group*

The Mathematical Modelling Group within the Department of Biogeochemistry focuses on coupled diffusive, advective, and chemical phenomena in biogeochemical cycles, particularly, with regard to the hydrodynamics of sediment transport and mass transfer at fluid-sediment interfaces. We are seeking Diploma/Master students with a physics/engineering background for both experimental and simulation based projects.
We are actively developing Lattice Boltzmann Methods for computational fluid dynamics, and our lab is well equipped for flow field diagnostics including Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF), and a variety of other methods.

Currently, we are offering projects on: Large-scale transport by porous spheres settling in stratifications and solute transport through laminar and turbulent sediment-water interface boundary layers.

For further information please contact Arzhang Khalili (akhlilimpi-bremen.de, +49 421 2028 636).

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The DIVERSITY Group within the Dep. of Microbiology (Prof. Dr. F. Widdel) offers several themes for diploma, master or bachelor theses or as Praxissemester project for students from applied universities (Fachhochschulen):

Biochemistry and physiology: Characterization of the physiology of anaerobic microorganisms (cultivation of anaerobes, metabolite characterization and quantification by GC and HPLC techniques)

Physiology and taxonomy: Isolation and characterization of aerobic microorganisms (cultivation of aerobes, genetic characterization by 16S rRNA gene sequencing)

Taxonomy and molecular genetics: Pulse field gel electrophoretical analysis of Planctomycetales genomes

Molecular microbial ecology: Method development in terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism or T-RFLP analysis of environmental samples

Bewerbungen mit vollständigen Unterlagen (Lebenslauf, Zeugnisse (Abitur, Studienleistungen/Vordiplom), Referenzschreiben (bzw. Namen und Adressen von zwei Referenzen), gewünschter Zeitraum) sollten bevorzugt per Email als ein pdf-File erfolgen an: jhardermpi-bremen.de

PD Dr. Jens Harder

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