Both worked previously on the LUMS project that started the work on multiple stressors in coastal copepods. LUMS demonstrated modulated copper toxicity in copepods when simultaneously exposed to the biotic stressors predation risk or conspecific density.
Copper is a common coastal contaminant in Norway, much due to its extensive use as an antifouling biocide. Torben successfully defended his PhD December 2019 and is now ready to unravel further mysteries on interactions between natural stressors and contaminants in copepods. Alongside questions on stressor interactions, Jan will to continue his work on automatizing experimental setups with robotics.
MULTICOP aims to identify underlying mechanisms of how predation risk interacts with copper toxicity in copepods, to develop mechanistic models for predicting population dynamic consequences of combined stressor exposure, and to provide knowledge and guidance for improved future environmental monitoring programs. Stay tuned for more updates!
Torben Lode
I finished my PhD with the BorgåGroup in December 2019 and I am happy to continue working in this group on MULTICOP. My research interests are chiefly within marine ecotoxicology, but also ecology. In my PhD, I focused on multiple stressor effects of combined predation risk and copper exposure on copepod life history and behaviour. I am also interested in how individual heterogeneity and genetic variability can influence outcomes of ecotoxicology studies, and how we can make our research more applicable for environmental regulatory authorities. I have previously worked with behavioural ecology in fish during my MSc, and prior to starting the PhD I worked as a marine environmental consultant.
Jan Heuschele
I am happy to join the BorgåGroup. My research so far focused on a) the influence of anthropogenic environmental change on sexual selection in fish, b) the reproduction and development in marine zooplankton, and c) the impact of multiple stressors on aquatic invertebrates. In my work, I love to develop affordable open-source scientific equipment that helps to detect effects that would otherwise remain hidden due to time constraints or observer effects. Right before joining MULTICOP, I served as the centre coordinator for the Centre for Biogeochemistry in the Anthropocene at UiO and worked as a freelance science illustrator.