Project 107: Taxonomy and Identification of Polar Marine Benthos

Contact Information:

Assoc. Prof. Cong Zeng

Project Description and Objectives:

The polar regions harbor unique communities of benthic organisms due to their constant low temperature. These uncommon creatures not only provide abundant resources to the polar regions, but are also important for the stability of polar ecosystems and the blue carbon cycle. Knowledge of unique creatures is mainly dependent on traditional taxonomic identifications, but taxonomic work in the polar regions is still very scarce. With the rapid decline of taxonomists worldwide, this limitation poses an even greater challenge to polar biodiversity assessment. Therefore, this project aims to explore the taxonomical identification of polar benthic organisms through molecular tools, which is expected to provide new technical support for polar marine conservation.

Eligibility Requirements:

Background in Biology

Basic knowledge of taxonomy and molecular biology

Good communication skills in English or Chinese

Main Tasks:

Basic morphological identification of polar benthic megafauna

DNA barcoding analysis of polar benthic megafauna

Phylogenetic analysis of polar benthic megafauna

Website:

Lab: N/A

School: https://soo.sjtu.edu.cn