Research internship

Responses of blue mussels to extreme events

Host university

Department of Marine Biology, University of Rostock,

Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany.

Description

This internship is part of a new project that investigates the effects of extreme estuarine events on keystone organisms. Observational and experimental studies will be conducted to understand how flood- and drought-related environmental factors such as salinity, temperature, and contamination affect the immunity, bioenergetics, and organismal fitness of blue mussels. The specific topic of the internship could be, for example, changes in cellular energy allocation (carbohydrate, lipid, and protein contents and electron transport system activity) of mussels in response to elevated heavy metal concentrations during floods. The intern will perform a variety of field work (e.g., animal collection), laboratory work (e.g., biochemical analysis), and office work (e.g., data analysis) under close supervision. Depending on the contribution, the intern may be eligible for authorship of resulting publications.

Requirements

• Master students in Environmental Science or related fields.
• Internship as a mandatory part of the curriculum at the home university. No financial support is provided by the host university.

Duration

2 months minimum, start date is flexible.

Application

Interested applicants should send their CV to duy.pham@uni-rostock.de at least 3 months before the desired start date of the internship.