Erik Selander

Associate professor

PI for the Signals in the sea project Associate Professor at the department of Aquatic Ecology at Lund University. Focus on Marine chemical ecology with special emphasis on the marine pelagic.

E-mail: erik.selander@biol.lu.se

Milad Pourdanandeh

PhD Student

My primary focus will be to expand our current understanding of defensive traits in phytoplankton induced by chemical cues from copepods. I also hope to study potential effects of these copepodamides on other zooplankton, perform a systematic review and to apply novel machine learning methods to study planktonic predator-prey interactions.

milad.pourdanandeh@gu.se

Isa Hendriks

PhD Student 

My PhD project is to advance the understanding of marine and freshwater ecosystems using machine vision and novel optical techniques. The project is a combination of the development of optical hardware for data collection and the development of machine learning algorithms for data analysis. My reserarch consists of several projects. The first focuses on how the air-water interface affects plankton vertical migration. For this project I developed instrumentation to monitor their vertical distribution, especially near the surface. The second involves designing an imaging system to improve the monitoring of gelatinous zooplankton in Swedish seas. Both projects rely on automatic image classification to count and identify the species. The third project is to improve on the holographic microscope to track individual unicellular plankton. 

E-mail:

isabel.hendriks@biol.lu.se

Hannah Knappe

MSc student

In my master's project, I am investigating the effects of CA and dhCA on toxin-producing marine phytoplankton in terms of toxin production rates at different concentrations of chemical cues. Using this key signaling molecule, I also want to find out what receptors are involved in signal transduction and take us closer to the identification of the copepodamide receptor. The aim is to gain more insight into the effects of copepods on harmful bloom-forming phytoplankton and to deepen the understanding of signaling pathways in phytoplankton which is currently unknown.

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E-mail: hannah_christina.knappe.4213@student.lu.se

Aikaterini (Catherina) Paliatsou

MSc student

In my Master’s thesis, I’m studying harmful algal bloom (HAB) forecasting using zooplankton alarm cues. I will be analysing samples from a Food Agency that include different filter-feeding species for copepodamide concentrations and their correlation to future toxin loads. Additionally, I will conduct experiments to determine the degradation rate of copepodamide. My research aims to improve the lead time and precision in HAB forecasting by exploring the role of zooplankton grazers in HAB formation in Swedish waters.

E-mail: ai5004pa-s@student.lu.se

Paula Gonzalo Valmala

MSc student

In my Master’s Thesis I am studying if copepodamides, a chemical cue released by copepods, induce bioluminescence in the marine dinoflagellates Protoceratium reticulatum and Alexandrium catenella and toxicity in Gymnodinium catenatum and Alexandrium catenella. I am also interested in seeing if the induction of these features implies a cost in the species such as changes in their growth rates. These traits are thought to partly act as defense mechanisms against predators and further learning about this predator-prey link is important to get a better insight into the chemical signaling of the ocean and the planktonic community composition dynamics.

E-mail: paulaisabel.gonzalo@gmail.com

Luisa Jaeger Marques

MSc student

My masters project proposes the use of the optical properties of the sea-air interface as a turbulence proxy guiding zooplankton migrations. The appearance of a point light source alters with sea surface roughness, influenced by wind and waves, and those different light regimes influence zooplankton migration responses. Significant in the context of climate change, this research addresses the potential impact of extreme events on planktonic populations, influencing community composition and carbon sequestration.

E-mail: lu4753ja-s@student.lu.se

Andrra Zhjeqi

MSc student

The main focus of my master’s thesis is to provide an understanding of how copepodamides influence the development of defensive traits in Alexandrium ostenfeldii, a dinoflagellate species. I will specifically test whether there is an increase in bioluminescence, as an induced response to an increase in the addition of copepodamides. Furthermore, it is predicted that the light-producing capacity is negatively related to growth rate in certain phytoplankton species. Hence, I will be measuring the growth rate alongside bioluminescence to test whether this holds true for A. ostenfeldii.

Kristie Rigby

PhD Student

My thesis used behavioural, ecological and biochemical approaches to understand the role of copepodamides in nature to better understand the links between predators and prey. 

kristie.rigby@gmail.com

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Jenny Lindström

Researcher

I am interested in ecological and physiological aspects of plankton bioluminescence. I study the importance of light as a predator defence in the ecosystem of the pelagial, and cellular mechanisms involved in triggering flashes of light in dinoflagellates.

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Andrew Prevett

Research Assistant

Previously focused on the copepodamide induced up regulation of dinoflagellate bioluminescence. The aim was to determine its impact on copepod grazing behaviour and the potential resulting changes in a plankton community. 

Sina Arnoldt

Erasmus student from Jena doing an internship exploring the presence of copepodamides in freshwater copepods.

Wiebke Grebner

Postdoc

Predator-prey interactions between zooplankton and phytoplankton are crucial for the ecological functioning of the pelagic ecosystem and these interactions are regulated by chemical signals. The marine microalgae Skeletonema marinoi shows a phenotypical response to a recently identified group of signalling molecules named copepodamides. My work focuses on the identification of possible receptor proteins involved in sensing these compounds in Skeletonema. Further I am interested in the transcriptomic and metabolomic changes of Skeletonema marinoi caused by copepodamides.

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Aubrey Trapp

Master student

My master project focused on the bioaccumulation of algal toxins and copepodamides in mussels. Mussels accumulate algal toxins during filter feeding, which causes shellfish poisoning and heavy losses for aquaculture. Recent work suggests that mussels may also accumulate copepodamides. Since copepodamides induce algal toxins, the detection of high levels of copepodamides in mussels could indicate a coming toxic algal bloom.

Malin Frisell

Master student

My master project investigated the connection between bioluminescence and toxicity in small, dim dinoflagellates. It is known that both these mechanisms are used as protection against predators and studies have suggested that bioluminescence might be an aposematic signal for toxicity. Learning about this will further increase our knowledge about the complex interactions between prey and predator. It will also give a deeper understanding about adaptions that can occur within populations in response to their surroundings.

Henrik Möller

Master student

In my master project I looked at the correlation between diel vertical migration of copepods and concentrations of copepodamides. With this knowledge it might be possible to estimate the budget for copepodamides in larger areas such as the Skagerrak region or the North sea. 

Hope Stevenson

Master student

My master thesis aimed to characterise the bioluminescent response of Alexandrium catenella to the presence of copepodamides, through preforming dose response experiments and looking at the kinetics of the response, the speed of bioluminescent initiation and the length of time required to return to control levels if copepodamide exposure is discontinued. The results of the study will add to the knowledge of bioluminescent defence response of dinoflagellate species and how it plays a role in prey - predator interactions.

Maja Karlsson

Master student

Maja did her Masters on the effect of copepodamides on microzooplankton grazing at Kristineberg Marine Research Station

Carina Berglund

Post doc

Carina did a PD on copepodamides and was key in the process of establishing several new structures. Now working in Swerea IVF