Trial lecture
The candidate will first give a trial lecture on the following topic: 'The use of microbial indicators in aquatic sciences: from pollution tracking to ecosystem health'
Time and place: Nov. 18, 2025 10:15 AM, Nucleus, Bikuben, Kristine Bonnevies hus
Unveiling the Dynamics of Aquatic Microbial Communities
This thesis investigates the dynamics of microbial communities within aquatic ecosystems, employing novel statistical approaches and ecological modeling. The research addresses fundamental challenges in microbial ecology, focusing on the detection of non-monotonic relationships in biodiversity patterns, the identification of bacterial bioindicators, and the development of statistical methods for community analysis.
We found that microbial diversity in boreal lakes responds to environmental gradients, such as browning, through complex, non-linear relationships, exhibiting distinct ecological thresholds where community composition shifts dramatically. We identified specific bacterial taxa that serve as effective bioindicators for classifying the ecological status of river systems, using metabarcoding data together with machine learning and graph theory. Looking at microbial communities in Australian soils and ocean, we found distinct community assembly patterns across environments and the three domains of life - Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya.
These insights advance our understanding of microbial community ecology, providing crucial frameworks for biomonitoring and conservation efforts in aquatic environments. The developed methodologies offer tools for assessing ecosystem health and predicting responses to environmental change, thereby contributing to evidence-based management strategies in a rapidly changing world.
Adjudication committee
Assoc. Prof. Ryan Newton, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Prof. Erik Kristiansson, Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg
Prof. Sanne Boessenkool, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Chair of defense
Prof. Bente Edvardsen, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Supervisors
Prof. Alexander Eiler, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Prof. Dag Hessen, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Prof. Tom Andersen, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo