Application deadline: 6 January 2017!
- Qualification type: PhD
- Location: Exeter, University of Exeter – College of Life and Environmental Science
- Funding for: UK Students, EU Students
- Funding amount: £14,296 per annum for 2016-17
- Hours: Full Time
Using a combination of aquarium based experiments and field work, this studentship will build on this previous research to examine OA pollutant interactions over a range of priority pollutants and pharmaceuticals expected to be pH sensitive within the OA range. It will also examine the role of organisms’ natural exposure to varying pH within their natural habitats in determining their sensitivities to combined OA-pollutant exposures. Using a range of invertebrate taxa including bivalve molluscs, polychaetes and sea urchins, the studentship will investigate the physiological and biochemical mechanisms that determine how OA and pollutants interact to adversely affect the health of marine invertebrates. Techniques will include physiological measurements such as oxygen consumption, feeding rate and acid-base balance measurements combined with ecotoxicological assays measuring toxicity responses such as reproductive endpoints, DNA damage and oxidative stress responses. The studentship will also involve training in educational outreach of these global issues to UK classrooms via the supervisors’ ongoing collaborations.
This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus six Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Met Office, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/
See please http://www.exeter.ac.uk/studying/funding/award/?id=2305 for more details on how to apply.
