NTNU is funding a PhD-scholarship for Ida Beathe Øverjordet, who will work in collaboration with our lab. She will conduct a survey to study the impact of mercury (Hg) on Arctic food webs (bioaccumulation, fates and effects), and our research group will assist and supervise the project along with Professor Bjørn Munro Jenssen (Department of Biology, NTNU), Professor Torunn Berg (Department of Chemistry, NTNU) and Dr Geir Wing Gabrielsen (Polar Institute).

My work on Calanus is focused on assessing potential differences in tolerance of mercury in species adapted to Atlantic and Arctic water temperatures. Calanus finmarchicus from the lab culture at SeaLab is mainly an Atlantic species adapted to warmer water, compared to Calanus glacialis found in Arctic waters on the west coast of Spitsbergen (79°N, 11°E). Both species have been exposed to mercury, and we are looking at differences in acute toxicity (LC50), mercury accumulation and molecular responses of selected stress genes using quantitative PCR.