We require a versatile student who is comfortable working with \u201cmud and molecules\u201d for a\u00a0project that aims to develop and apply the use of ancient DNA in lake sediments\u00a0(sedDNA). Traces of DNA preserved in lake sediments can potentially be used to\u00a0reconstruct the composition of biological communities over timespans of hundreds to\u00a0thousands of years. The application of sedDNA for environmental reconstruction and\u00a0freshwater conservation has, to date, been limited by knowledge gaps on how well\u00a0sedimentary DNA reflects contemporary communities (including bacteria, protists, plants,\u00a0invertebrates and vertebrates) and a lack of understanding of preservation. This\u00a0studentship aims to fill these knowledge gaps, and provide training in a rapidly expanding\u00a0area of environmental science with high future employability prospects. The training\u00a0programme will include UK lake sampling and surveys to compare contemporary aquatic\u00a0biota with sedDNA and we thus require a student who is enthusiastic about fieldwork and\u00a0associated logistics with interests in freshwater biology techniques, including microscopy\u00a0and flow cytometry to identify and quantify aquatic biota. A key component of the project\u00a0will be DNA metabarcoding, and so familiarity with molecular analyses and a strong\u00a0interest in laboratory analytical work is required. Training in palaeolimnology (sediment\u00a0core analysis) will be provided. The student will be based in the School of Geography at\u00a0the University of Nottingham supervised by Prof Suzanne McGowan and the project will\u00a0include a 4 month secondment to CEH Wallingford to work with the Co-supervisor Dr Dan\u00a0Read and training trips to Lancaster University to work with co-supervisor Prof Phil\u00a0Barker. The funding package for this studentship will include fieldwork costs, secondment\u00a0relocation costs, laboratory consumables and contributions to conference attendance.\u00a0The School of Geography is an Athena SWAN silver award holder and welcomes
\napplicants from all backgrounds.<\/p>\n
Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK Honours degree at 2:1 level or equivalent in\u00a0subjects such as Biology, Natural Sciences, Geography or Environmental Science.\u00a0Previous experience and\/ or training in molecular analysis, lake ecology and\u00a0palaeolimnology would be considered an advantage and competent laboratory skills are\u00a0essential. Confidence in boats and the ability to drive are also desirable.<\/p>\n
For further information about the studentship please e mail Suzanne McGowan\u00a0suzanne.mcgowan@nottingham.ac.uk<\/a> or Daniel Read dasr@ceh.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We require a versatile student who is comfortable working with \u201cmud and molecules\u201d for a\u00a0project that aims to develop and apply the use of ancient DNA in lake sediments\u00a0(sedDNA). Traces of DNA preserved in lake sediments can potentially be used to\u00a0reconstruct the composition of biological communities over timespans of hundreds to\u00a0thousands of years. The application… Read More »Ancient DNA for palaeoecology and freshwater conservation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":5862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[51],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-5861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-51","tag-nottingham"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/files\/2017\/10\/Suzanne-McGowan-Image-400x400px.jpg?fit=400%2C400","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8kFzn-1wx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5863,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5861\/revisions\/5863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}