NORCE will work together with other partners on the fauna in shallow seas and estuaries. These habitats are characterized by high nutrient availability, high primary production, and a high carbon flux. Estuaries are also the recipients for much of human pressures and ecosystems here are often degraded and in need of restoration. NORCE will use eDNA and metabarcoding technologies to map the fauna in key estuary and shallow seas habitats such as seagrass beds and twilight zone hard substrates such as sponge and coral grounds.
Team members
Dr. Thomas Dahlgren
Dr Thomas Dahlgren has a PhD in zoology from the University of Gothenburg. He has specialized in invertebrate zoology with the emphasis on biodiversity mapping including species discovery and naming. In this project Dr Dahlgren will work on characterizing the fauna living in the areas in the borderland between land and ocean as well as how this fauna is distributed and connected to e.g. carbon sequestration. Currently Dr Dahlgren holds a position as research professor at the Norwegian Research Center NORCE in Bergen, Norway and associate professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Dr. Jon Hestetun
Jon Thomassen Hestetun is a benthic ecologist combining environmental DNA and morphological taxonomy for investigating marine biodiversity, benthic community composition and response to environmental stressors including the deep sea, offshore monitoring, and coastal habitats.
Latest blog posts
Sampling marine environmental DNA to find out who was there
All organisms leave a trace of DNA in the environment that they inhabit, including those living in the ocean. We call this type of DNA, environmental DNA (eDNA). Example sources of eDNA include, but are not limited to, faeces, mucus, gametes, shed skin and dead cells....