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Project properties |
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| Title | Who lives below the reef? |
| Group | Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Name: Mischa Streekstra
Email:mischa.streekstra@wur.nl |
| Examiner(s) | Edwin Peeters |
| Contact info | Name: Mischa Streekstra
Email:mischa.streekstra@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2021/04/15 |
| End date | 2022/12/31 |
| Description | Corals create immense three dimensional structures that are colonised by a colourful mix of benthic animals, plants and cyanobacteria. These groups living 'below' the reef play essential roles in ecosystem functioning by nutrient cycling. Still, these habitats are very heterogenous and difficult to access, which prevents an accurate understanding of species composition and biochemical contribution. In this project you would study the community composition of cryptic communities on Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS). Samples have been collected on two locations in 2019 (Curacao, Dutch Caribbean and Mo'orea, French Polynesia) and several research questions are possible depending on your interest. You would answer your questions by combining literature research with state of the art techniques used in marine science, including photo-analyses, metabarcoding and bioinformatics or analyses of functional data (nutrient cycling by complex communities). |
| Used skills | Literature review; lab experimenting; data analysis & statistics |
| Requirements | |