Postdoc position on Antarctic Mixotrophic Microalgae

Uva; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 35,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Uva invites applications for a postdoctoral position within the MACS project to study how mixotrophic protists in the Antarctic respond to environmental stressors. The work will focus on understanding the interplay between light, nutrients, and temperature in sea-ice and surrounding waters.

The successful candidate will integrate field observations, lab experiments, and modeling to predict how changing ice cover affects microalgal growth and related biogeochemical cycles, with results

Responsibilities

• As a postdoc in the MACS project you will investigate how multiple environmental stressors affect

Job description

Join us!

The Antarctic seasonal sea-ice zone is rapidly changing, with consequences for the key primary producers: microalgae growing in sea-ice and water. While traditionally regarded as purely photoautotrophic, many of these microalgae likely also feed on other microbes or take up dissolved organic matter. Such a mixotrophic lifestyle might help them to survive the polar night and allow them an early start in the growing season, long before other algae receive sufficient light to pick up growth. Additionally, microalgae contribute to the production of the trace gas dimethylsulfide (DMS) that has an impact on climate via cloud formation. The MACS project aims to understand the role of mixotrophic protists in Antarctic C- and S-cycles. Such mechanistic understanding will help predict how changing ice cover will affect microalgal growth and DMS-production in the future, and whether feedbacks might be expected in a changing climate.

What are you going to do?

As a postdoc in the MACS project you will investigate how multiple environmental stressors affect