Doris Björling maps unknown relatives of jellyfish
It was over a hundred years ago a proper inventory of Cnidaria in the class Hydrozoa was made in Swedish waters. As a new doctoral student at the Department of Marine Sciences, Doris Björling will take up the challenge and establish a species list of some of its lesser-known relatives: The order Anthoathecata.
What will you be working with?
I am just about to start my doctoral project at the Department, which has focus on inventorying Cnidaria in the order Anthoathecata in Swedish waters. It was over a hundred years since any comprehensive inventory approach was made for Hydrozoa in Sweden, and since then their family tree has been reformed considerably.
A total of ninety-four species of Anthoathecata have been noted in Sweden. Among other things, I will go through museum collections, and collect new field material, to look at both morphological and molecular characteristics, and also if missing, retrieve DNA barcodes. I want to make an updated species list; resolve taxonomic ambiguities for example for cryptic and new species; and to build a, by taxonomic standards of the 2020s, reliable reference collection.
What did you do before?
During the fall and winter, I worked as a project assistant in a project here at the University of Gothenburg that investigates possible consequences for, among other things, biodiversity from the mining of polymetallic nodules in the deep sea. My role was to document and genetically identify annelids and molluscs from sediment samples for the project's baseline.
What do you do when you are not working?
In my spare time, I do some long-distance running and other outdoor activities, preferably in combination with bird watching and swimming. In between, I try to catch up on the good things in life: a movie, a whiskey, a hangout.
Anything else you want to share?
If you want to make me happy, please send identification questions about jellyfish and polyps. I can't promise successful identification, but I’d love to try.
Intervju: Karl-Johan Nylén
Översättning till engelska: Annika Wall