Miss Ayla Murray1, Dr Charlotte Havermans1
1Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
The Arctic is warming four times faster than the global mean, while the ‘Atlantification’ of the Arctic via Fram Strait is having growing influences on both physical and biological processes in the region. Greater understanding of how these changes are impacting local marine biodiversity is crucial for formulating accurate predictions of future Arctic ecosystems and potential management and mitigation decisions. Gelatinous zooplankton (GZP) are a highly diverse group of taxa, including cnidarians, ctenophores and pelagic tunicates and can have a wide range of ecosystem impacts. Little is known about GZP ecology in the Arctic Ocean, and even less about how their diversity and distributions are being impacted by climate-related changes. They are often actively left out of zooplankton surveys and are notoriously difficult to catch in good condition. GZP taxa are therefore regularly underestimated in biodiversity, distribution and abundance, which has led to a lack of reliable and comprehensive baseline datasets, especially in the Arctic Ocean. In this study, we investigate GZP biodiversity across Fram Strait, using eDNA metabarcoding of the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene. Samples were sequenced using the Illumina NovaSeq platform and validated with net catch data from the same period and localities to form a baseline dataset for the region. This dataset represents a valuable contribution to future research on changing GZP biodiversity and community composition, as well as biomonitoring of rare and range-shifting species in a changing Arctic Ocean.
Biography:
I am a PhD researcher in the Helmholtz Young Investigator group for Arctic Jellyfish, at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. The focus of my project is to use eDNA metabarcoding methods to investigate patterns of biodiversity and distribution of Gelatinous Zooplankton in the Arctic and its marginal seas. I completed my Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Biodiversity as well as a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington before completing my Masters of Science in Ecology and the University of Bremen in Germany.