University of Amsterdam

The Southern Ocean plays a disproportionately large role in the global ocean carbon cycle. Its carbon cycling is strongly influenced by zooplankton, especially Antarctic krill and salps, whose fecal pellets drive vertical carbon export. Krill depend closely on sea ice and under‑ice habitats, while salps thrive in warmer, often ice‑free waters. Warming and sea‑ice loss are already shifting their distributions and increasing spatial overlap, with implications for competition, food webs, and fisheries. Yet current ecosystem models represent these key grazers only crudely, leaving major uncertainties in future projections.

This project asks how changing interactions between Antarctic krill and salps reshape Southern Ocean ecosystems and the global carbon cycle. It will explore how sea‑ice loss, warming, predation and fisheries affect krill and salp population dynamics, and how shifts in their relative dominance alter grazing, fecal pellet production and vertical carbon export. Ultimately, it aims to reduce uncertainty in projections of Southern Ocean functioning under future climate and fishing scenarios.

If interested, please apply via this website: https://werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies/phd-candidate-in-ecological-modelling-of-krill-and-salps-in-a-changing-southern-ocean-netherlands-15464