Adaptation of soil invertebrate to environmental extremes – in the ...

Adaptation of soil invertebrate to environmental extremes – in the Azorean furnace of
evolution
Supervisors: Dr. David Spurgeon, Dr Elma Lahive
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford
Application Deadline: 31 January 2013
Start Date: 1 October 2013
To apply for this studentship please send to Dr. David Spurgeon (dasp@ceh.ac.uk) your CV,
details of two referees, and a cover letter detailing why you are suited to this PhD.
Project Details:
The rapid environmental changes imposed by natural phenomena (e.g. floods, volcanoes)
and human activity (e.g. pollution, climate) challenge species to adapt or face extinction.
Understanding such tolerance is fundamental to species survival. Animals living in extreme
environments (extremophiles) provide a fantastic resource for understanding adaptation
because the mechanisms that they use to survive in extremis frequently relate to those
employed by other species to survive more subtle events.
Volcanoes, even when not actively erupting, have great impacts on the environments that
surround them. The heating and gas loading (e.g. with CO2) of soils on volcanic slopes
provides a set of conditions which presents an extreme challenge for species survival. For
example, at sites in the Azores Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, populations of earthworms and
woodlice are found in soils up to 45 o C with soil CO2 concentrations 1000 times greater than
those in the air.
The aim of this PhD will be to investigate how these invertebrate species persist under these
extreme volcanic conditions. The key hypotheses to be investigated will be.
i. Earthworm and woodlouse populations at volcanic sites display traits that allow them
to persist under thermal and anoxia stress.
ii. Volcanic site populations are genetically differentiated from non-volcanic
populations.
iii. Adaptation to thermal stress and anoxia involve selection for upregulation of stress
protection pathways.
The student will work with volcanologists in the Azores to characterise soil
chemical/physical conditions in active volcanic soils to identify hot spots for field collection
and subsequent culturing. These field studies will then support a program of research
focussed on three main tasks:

1. Laboratory and mesocosm studies to establish tolerance ranges and behavioural
adaptations.
2. Physiological, biochemical/metabolic and gene expression analyses to characterise
adaptive phenotypes in volcanic populations.
3. Population genetic analysis to identify the genetic basis of identified tolerance traits.
Training and guidance will be provided to the student to develop specific and transferable
skills needed to meet the PhD objectives including: physiological and behavioural analysis,
cell biology assays; advanced analytical and microscopy techniques; gene expression
analysis, genome sequence techniques like RAD-sequencing; bioinformatics, data analysis,
and data visualisation; conference presentation and paper writing.
The project will be based within the Soil Biology and Ecotoxicology group at CEH’s
Wallingford site supervised by Dr David Spurgeon
(http://www.ceh.ac.uk/StaffWebPages/DavidSpurgeon.html) and Dr Elma Lahive, and Co-
Supervised by Dr Peter Kille (http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi/contactsandpeople/stafflist/il/kille-peter-dr.html)
within the ‘Organisms and Environment’ division of the Cardiff School
of Biosciences. The student will also work with staff at the University of the Azores. The
main supervisors involved have an excellent track record of overseeing PhD projects and
training students in skills that lead to employment in the academic and commercial research
sectors.
Potential applicants should have an interest in biology and evolution; knowledge of animal
physiology and biochemistry; an interest in conducting fieldwork in challenging
environments. The following skills are also desirable: practical experience of an experimental
research project; knowledge of genetic and/or bioinformatic principles.
Funding Details:
CEH is committed to a high quality graduate training programme to ensure that the successful
candidate has access to opportunities to develop their career skills and experience. For
eligible students a stipend and fees will be provided at the RCUK rate. Please refer to the
CEH website at www.ceh.ac.uk for details of our scientific research and to the NERC website
at http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/available/postgrad/ for details of funding eligibility.