Main research findings
Algae can be used to recover nutrients from municipal wastewater as biomass. This approach supports a more circular use of resources, but it also exposes algae to highly diverse microbial communities that may influence productivity and cultivation stability.
This thesis investigated the bacterial communities associated with filamentous green algae used in wastewater treatment. Across laboratory and pilot-scale experiments, many bacteria remained associated with the algae even after prolonged exposure to wastewater communities. Different algal cultures often shared similar groups of bacteria; however, they differed in the specific bacterial strains they contained. These differences were influenced by both the history of the algal cultures and the algae themselves.
Together, these findings show that the bacterial communities present in stock algal cultures can have lasting effects on the bacterial communities that develop during wastewater treatment. This supports further research into whether algal microbiomes are steerable and whether this could help improve the management of algal cultivation systems used for wastewater treatment and biomass production.
Trial lecture
The candidate will first give a trial lecture on the following topic: 'Eukaryome metagenomics in marine ecosystems'.
Adjudication committee
- Associate Professor with Habilitation João Varela, University of Algarve/CCMAR/GreenColab, Portugal
- Professor Silke Langenheder, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Professor Micah Dunthorn, Natural History Museum (NHM), University of Oslo (UiO), Norway
Chair of the defense
- Professor Dag O. Hessen, Department of Biosciences (IBV), University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Researcher Luka Šupraha, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norway
- Professor Bente Edvardsen, Department of Biosciences (IBV), University of Oslo (UiO), Norway
- Research Scientist Kari Skjånes, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Norway