With an estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans each year, marine plastics are one of the biggest and most immediate threats facing the marine environment.
Global change includes a wide range of environmental (physical and chemical) changes and is occurring faster than our ability to predict it’s consequences (Kroeker, Kordas & Harley 2017).
Since the onset of mass production of plastics in the 1950’s the flux of plastics to the marine environment has been a growing problem (Cole at al., 2011), such that microplastic contamination of the oceans is now one of the world’s most pressing environmental concerns (Hurley et al., 2018).
Fungi are well established as important components of aquatic ecosystems, however the functional roles that they fulfil remain poorly understood (Grossart & Rojas-Jimenez 2016).
Climate change and invasive species present two of the greatest threats to biodiversity, each has the potential to cause irreversible ecological damage.
Marine biogeochemical models are run as part of Earth system and climate models, to assess the contribution of marine biology to the carbon cycle, and the response of marine ecosystems to a changing climate.
Research Group:
Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (SIS)
Dr M Hudson, Prof I Williams
Application Deadline:
14 December 2018
Microplastics have emerged as a major environmental problem over recent years. Plastic litter and microplastics are ubiquitous in the marine environment- present in water and sediments, and taken up by marine creatures.
Scientific background. Marine phytoplankton are vital in regulating our global climate, contributing almost half of the biosphere’s net primary production.
Research Group:
CENTA - Central England NERC Training Alliance
Dr Y Chen, Prof D J Scanlan
Application Deadline:
21 January 2019
Project Highlights. Marine microbes meet omics. World-leading supervisory team on marine microbiology and ecology. Uniquely opportunity at Warwick to apply cutting-edge techniques on integrated omics.
