PhD Studentship: Small Animals, Big Impact: Understanding How Polar Zooplankton Physiology Drives Ocean Biogeochemistry - NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship for September 2025 Entry Ref 5419

About the Partnership

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus five Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology,  the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see nercgw4plus.ac.uk.

Project details

For information relating to the research project please contact the lead Supervisor via D.J.Mayor@exeter.ac.uk

Project Aims and Methods

Polar marine ecosystems are dominated by calanoid copepods. These animals live in the surface ocean during spring/summer and then migrate vertically and reside in the deep ocean throughout winter. Overwintering copepods enter a state of reduced metabolic activity called diapause that is fuelled by their lipid (fat) reserves. The annual vertical migration of lipid-storing copepods, recently termed the ‘lipid pump’, directly transports vast amounts of carbon into the deep ocean where it is sequestered from the atmosphere for centuries or millennia. Despite the significance of the lipid pump for climate regulation, we know very little about diapause physiology. What controls the depth at which copepods establish diapause? What is their metabolic rate in diapause, and how is it regulated? How do diapausing copepods control their buoyancy whilst consuming their ‘lipid life jacket’? How do they ‘know’ when to re-ascend to the surface? Will climate change affect the lipid pump?  

This exciting project will address such questions using a range of cutting-edge techniques, e.g., enzyme-based estimates of metabolism, metabolomics, transcriptomics and mass-spectrometry-based lipid analyses. It will be co-designed with the candidate to match their research interests and career aspirations. Polar research expedition participation is not essential but may be possible. 

Training

The DTP offers funding to undertake specialist training relating to the student’s specialist area of research. 

Useful links

Webpage: www.instagram.com/oceanplankton

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