PhD scholarship in Arctic fjord food webs under glacial retreat - DTU Aqua

Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINR), the Greenland Climate Research Centre (GCRC) and DTU Aqua invite applications for a joint PhD position investigating how glacial retreat affect the structure, functioning, and stability of Arctic fjord food webs.

The position offers an excellent opportunity to combine Arctic field ecology, laboratory analyses, quantitative trophic ecology, and ecosystem modelling while working in Greenland and Denmark. You will become part of an interdisciplinary research environment spanning GINR, DTU Aqua, and the wider EDGE project.

The PhD project focuses on two contrasting fjord systems near Nuuk, Greenland, which differ in their degree of glacial influence. It is part of the Independent Research Fund Denmark project “Fjords on the EDGE:

• Resilience of Greenland Coastal Food Webs in a Warming Arctic”.
• The overall aim is to understand how changes at the glacier–ocean interface propagates through the coastal ecosystem, from primary production to benthic communities, fish, and marine mammals.
• In particular, you will investigate the relative importance of benthic and pelagic energy pathways for key consumers using stable isotope analyses and stomach-content data.
• These observations will be integrated into an ecosystem model to explore how deglaciation tipping points may alter food-web structure and ecosystem functioning1 …