Ellika Faust
About Ellika Faust
Ellika Faust received her MSc in biology from the University of Gothenburg in 2017 and started her PhD in 2018.
Using genetic methods, I try to understand and describe ecological and evolutionary processors in the ocean. My fundamental research interest originates in the conservation of natural populations and promoting a sustainable use of aquatic resources.
My research is largely focused on different species of wrasse and lumpfish which are used as cleaner fish. Cleaner fish clean the salmon by eating salmon lice and other small parasites that sit on it’s skin. The use of cleaner fish in salmon farms has increased exponentially over the last decade. This great commercial interest has led to an increasing fishing pressure. In addition, many millions of fish are transported to farms far from where they were caught. In my research I mainly examine the genetic structure and composition of the wild populations, with a main focus on Scandinavia. I want to know more about what populations exist, how much connectivity there is between them and how they adapt to the different environments they live in. This will help improve the understanding of the species and provide important information to the management to be able to pursue sustainable fishery.
I also have a great interest in how species and populations can adapt to new environments and how hybridization may effect the local populations. A large part of my research is directed towards being able to identify cleaner fish which escape from salmon farms and better understand the effects it has on the local ecosystem.
In the past, I have done some work on the invasive Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas). I examined wild populations in Scandinavia and Europe to investigate the origin and potential route of establishment of the invasive Pacific oyster in Sweden and Norway.
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Wrasse fishery on the Swedish West Coast: towards ecosystem-based
management
Sarah Bourlat, Ellika Faust, Håkan Wennhage, Andreas Wikström, Kristie Rigby, Maria Vigo, Paul Kraly, Erik Selander, Carl André
ICES Journal of Marine Science - 2021-01-01 -
Not that clean: Aquaculture-mediated translocation of cleaner fish has led to hybridization on the northern edge of the species'
range
Ellika Faust, Eeva Jansson, Carl André, Kim Tallaksen Halvorsen, Geir Dahle, Halvor Knutsen, María Quintela, Kevin A. Glover
Evolutionary Applications - 2021-01-01 -
Genetic Identification of Corkwing Wrasse Cleaner Fish Escaping from Norwegian
Aquaculture
Ellika Faust
- 2020-01-01 -
"A cleaner break": Genetic divergence between geographic groups and sympatric phenotypes revealed in ballan wrasse (Labrus
bergylta)
G. W. Seljestad, M. Quintela, Ellika Faust, K. T. Halvorsen, F. Besnier, E. Jansson, G. Dahle, H. Knutsen, Carl André, A. Folkvord, K. A. Glover
Ecology and Evolution - 2020-01-01 -
Cleaner fish escape salmon farms and hybridize with local wrasse
populations
Ellika Faust, K. T. Halvorsen, P. Andersen, H. Knutsen, Carl André
Royal Society Open Science - 2018-01-01 -
Origin and route of establishment of the invasive Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas in
Scandinavia
Ellika Faust, Carl André, S. Meurling, J. Kochmann, Henrik Christiansen, L. F. Jensen, G. Charrier, A. T. Laugen, Åsa Strand
Marine Ecology Progress Series - 2017-01-01