海上风电场食物网动态博士职位

PhD position on local food web dynamics within offshore wind farms in the North Sea POWER (Progress in Offshore Wind Ecological Research) consortium.

As offshore wind farms rapidly expand in the North Sea, mitigating their ecological impact on marine ecosystems is critical. The North Sea POWER project addresses this challenge by filling vital knowledge gaps regarding underwater noise, biomass and water flows, and wildlife disturbance (such as seabirds and bats) to support a sustainable green energy transition. By reducing uncertainty in models and identifying effective mitigation options, North Sea POWER supports offshore wind development that protects marine ecosystems while contributing to a sustainable energy future.

The project is funded through the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA), developed in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.

Led by Wageningen University & Research, the project brings together a transdisciplinary consortium of leading academic institutions, societal stakeholders, conservation organisations, and energy sector partners. More about the consortium .

This position is one of twelve PhD and postdoc positions across the consortium. You will be part of a team working on shared questions, with joint meetings, fieldwork and training alongside your own project. You will be hosted at Wageningen Marine Research in Den Helder, where you will study how fouling communities in offshore wind farms affect local food web dynamics and carbon cycling in close collaboration with Wageningen University. Part of the molecular lab work will be performed in the lab of Marine Animal Ecology in Wageningen.

Are you interested in how biofouling communities in offshore wind farms affect local food web dynamics and carbon cycling? We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate to join our research team on biofouling with a focus on quantifying how biofouling communities influence primary and secondary production and blue carbon sequestration in the seabed. By combining laboratory experiments, in-situ fieldwork observations, and ecosystem modelling, your work will help refine current ecosystem-scale models and inform environmental impact assessments.

Your duties and responsibilities include: • conduct laboratory experiments to measure and quantify grazing rates, carbon biomass, prey preferences, particle export, and faeces sinking velocity rates across different fouling species; • execute field surveys from research vessels; • integrate empirical data into conceptual models; • publish research findings in peer-reviewed journals and present them at national and international conferences; • mentor BSc/MSc students.

Your team You will be part of Wageningen Marine Research (WMR – Den Helder), as a member of the Theme Team North Sea Reefs with Dr. Joop Coolen , and Dr. Ninon Mavraki as your daily supervisors, and you are also part of the Marine Animal Ecology Group (MAE) supervised by the Associate Professor Reindert Nijland at Wageningen University and Research. In Den Helder a broad group of scientists, analysts, field workers and students work on a variety of topics, such as benthic ecology, seals, seabirds, bats and other species. You will be a member of the theme team North Sea Reefs, with multiple colleagues specialising in the ecology of natural and artificial reefs in the North Sea. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to design experiments involving molecular tools, such as eDNA and DNA metabarcoding, which then will be performed at the molecular laboratory of MAE in Wageningen University.

You will work here The position is available within Wageningen University & Research at the Marine Animal Ecology group. The organisation has good and flexible employment conditions, including good education and training facilities for PhD students. Your working location will be at Wageningen Marine Research in Den Helder, the Netherlands, where the daily supervisors Joop Coolen and Ninon Mavraki are located. WMR is an applied research institute with 3 locations (Den Helder, IJmuiden and Yerseke) in the Netherlands. Research areas in Den Helder include coastal and offshore North Sea, tropics and (ant)arctic regions. In addition to ecological research, WMR advises the government regarding protection of species and habitats, pollution, and other anthropogenic interactions with ecology, and collaborate with industry, i.a. to study nature inclusive designs. Facilities in Den Helder in addition to offices, include a benthic lab, eco-analysis lab, climate rooms, mesocosms and algae culture facilities. Additionally, WMR has an experimental hard substrate garden in the marina on the island of Texel.