Biodiversity monitoring in deep sea marine ecosystems using eDNA.

The effective monitoring of biodiversity is essential to assess the status of marine environments and to understand if management strategies developed to protect key yet vulnerable ecosystems are effective.
The advent of high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies offer novel approaches for the characterisation of marine biodiversity, through metabarcoding of whole marine communities and the detection of target species from environmental DNA (eDNA) extracts of water or sediment.
This project will apply eDNA and metabarcoding approaches to characterise the benthic communities associated with deep-sea water habitats. Scotland has a vast area of deep-water marine habitat that is potentially vulnerable to human activities such as fishing and oil and gas exploration. As a precautionary measure, several large deep-water areas have been designated as marine protected areas (MPA) or special areas of conservation (SAC) with management plans being put in place to ensure conservation of these unique habitats. Deepwater MPAs present a unique challenge for biomonitoring due to their remoteness, poorly characterised species assemblages and the technical difficulty and cost of working in deep water. This project will use DNA metabarcoding approaches from water and sediment samples to characterise both prokaryote and eukaryote communities to inform baseline monitoring and understand community dynamics in relation to human impact.
Overall the project will provide training in state-of-the-art molecular techniques, plus bioinformatics, evolutionary and statistical analyses. It also provides a rare opportunity to dovetail molecular approaches with applied marine conservation, management and policy development involving government, industry, NGO and academic stake-holders and end-users.

Application Process
Please apply for admission to the ’Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Science’ to ensure that your application is passed to the correct college for processing.
Please provide a copy of the degree certificate and transcript for each previous degree undertaken, a copy of your English language proficiency certificate (if relevant), and contact details of two referees who can comment on your previous academic performance (at least one should be from your current degree programme). References will be requested if you are selected for interview. Incomplete applications will not be considered.