Species assemblages of benthic foraminifera and alien species survey in harbours from Western Sweden
This is a suggestion for a Degree Project for Bachelor's and Master's levels at the Department of Marine Sciences. Degree projects at the Department of Marine Sciences are done independently and must be written and assessed individually.
Subject: Marine Geology
Project Level: Master/Internship
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Laboratory: Department of Marine Science, Natrium
Dates (flexible): January/February – June/July 2026
Supervisor: Jean-Charles Pavard (EU postdoctoral fellow)
Project background
In the context of globalisation, marine traffic continues its ever-increasing growth. Consequently, the risk of introducing Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) through widely known vectors such as the release of ships’ ballast water or biofouling is significantly heightened, increasing the chances of these species settling in new environments and becoming invasive, often at the expense of native species.
Such biological invasions can impact native biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and potentially endanger the viability of essential ecosystem goods and services for human well-being.
Project description
The FORALIEN (FORaminifera ALIEN) postdoctoral project, granted by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), aims to identify benthic foraminiferal NIS (unicellular organisms from the meiofauna) through traditional method (i.e. morphological identification) and novel methods (i.e. dPCR and machine learning) and estimate their spatio-temporal distribution alongside the western coastline of Sweden.
As harbours and marinas are hotspots of NIS introduction, this master thesis/internship will focus on the spatial distribution of alien species in harbours from the Swedish West coast. light microscopy, their proportion in native species assemblages and the assessment of their ecological requirements (through analyses of carbon and nitrogen, trace metals and chlorophyll in sediment samples).
Project objectives
- Explore species assemblages of benthic foraminiferal in harbours and marinas from the Swedish west coast, assess the spatial distribution of alien species and their impact on diversity.
- Characterise environmental conditions and pollution in sampled harbours to fill the lack of knowledge on the ecological drivers of native and alien species to use them as reliable indicators of harbours
- Assessment of Ecological Quality Status (EcoQS) in sampled harbours in the context of European legislations
Tasks for the student
- Analysis of foraminiferal assemblages based on shell morphology (through light microscopy) from surface sediments samples scooped in harbours from the Swedish West coast.
- Sample preparation for sediment chlorophyll a and pigments analyses
- Statistical and multivariate analyses
- Calculation of biotic indices based on benthic foraminifera to assess EcoQS
Recommended skills
Recommended skills would be appreciated, but are not mandatory: experience in benthic foraminifera, taxonomy, biomonitoring, biostatistics and multivariate analyses, potentially molecular analysis background.
Contact
Supervisor
Jean-Charles Pavard
EU postdoctoral fellow
Email: jean-charles.pavard@gu.se