Supervisory Team:
Prof. Theodore Henry – Heriot-Watt University
Dr Frances Orton – Heriot-Watt University
Dr Helena Reinardy – University of the Highlands and Islands
Dr Stewart Owen – AstraZeneca
Prof. Gisela Umbuzeiro – University of Campinas, Limeira, SP, Brazil
Tropical wetlands are especially vulnerable habitats in global climate models that predict temperatures will increase substantially, extreme storm events will occur more frequently, changes in riverine discharge (i.e., leading to changes in salinity of estuaries) will become more dramatic, and negative anthropogenic factors (pollution, shipping, overfishing) will become more severe as human populations increase. Our established ecotoxicology tropical amphipod (Parhyale hawaiensis) model enables cross-laboratory experimentation (UK-Brazil) and field research within our existing field sites in São Paulo state Brazil. The supervisory team is composed of experts in field and laboratory ecotoxicology, pathophysiology and in the investigation of multiple stressors.
Experimentation will include both laboratory and field studies and consider organism responses to stressors at molecular (genotoxicology, target gene and transcriptome), tissue (histopathology), whole organism (behaviour, reproduction), and community (genetic polymorphisms) levels of biological organisation. Laboratory experimentation will utilize the established colonies of P. hawaiensis at Heriot-Watt University and University of Campinas, and field research including deployment of amphipods in purpose-built cages in mangrove habitats of São Paulo state Brazil. The project supervisor (TB Henry) has long established research collaboration with supervisor in Brazil (GA Umbuzeiro) and a joint academic appointment at the University of Campinas (Campinas, Brazil).
Biodiversity is under threat from the combination of climate change and pollution, and, in the context of mangrove wetlands, is a United Nations Triple Planetary Crisis. However, we know almost nothing about how these multiple stressors will affect fundamental biology of critical ecosystem enablers such as amphipods. Near 30% of the world’s mangroves are in UK Commonwealth countries. This studentship will increase understanding of pathophysiology in the poly-crisis facing these critical wetland ecosystems, and project novelty includes interlaboratory (UK-Brazil) comparison of ecotoxicology results with the P. hawaiensis model and field experimentation to facilitate validation of laboratory results.
Tropical mangrove wetlands are frequently exposed to multiple stressors including both natural variations and anthropogenic factors (e.g., pollution, shipping, habitat alteration, overfishing); however, the understanding of how these ecosystems respond to multiple stressors is largely unknown. Projections of future global environmental changes (e.g., climate change) indicate that tropical regions are likely to be struck most acutely by stressful events including temperature, changes in discharge of freshwaters (i.e., salinity changes), extreme storm events, and pollution from rapidly expanding human population growth in these areas. These vulnerable ecosystems are critical to the maintenance and health of neighbouring marine environments.
Essential Skills: Field-based skills, Laboratory skills
