The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is a member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF) and funded by federal and state government. AWI focuses on polar and marine research in a variety of disciplines such as biology, oceanography, geology, geochemistry and geophysics thus allowing multidisciplinary approaches to scientific goals.
Master thesis: Effects of Microplastics on Microbial Communities in Arctic Deep-Sea Sediments
Background
The Arctic Ocean is increasingly exposed to anthropogenic pressures, including plastic pollution. High concentrations of microplastics have been detected in sediments at the HAUSGARTEN deep-sea observatory in Fram Strait. However, their potential effects on benthic microbial communities and their functions remain largely unknown.
In this project, we will investigate how environmentally derived microplastics affect microbial communities in Arctic deep-sea sediments. Sediments that were collected during the 2026 Polarstern expedition to HAUSGARTEN will be used to establish a controlled microcosm experiment, where microbial communities are exposed to microplastics produced from plastic debris collected by an ROV from the HAUSGARTEN seafloor. The Master’s student will investigate potential effects on bacterial abundance, microbial community composition and activity by comparing microplastic-amended treatments with control treatments.
The project will provide hands-on experience with microcosm experiments, microscopy, extracellular enzymatic activity assays, microbial community analysis, and data evaluation. You will work with samples originating from the Arctic deep sea and contribute to ongoing frontier research on the environmental impacts of microplastic pollution.
Your Tasks
- Maintain and sample microcosm experiments
- Quantify bacterial abundance using Acridine Orange Direct Counts
- Measure extracellular enzymatic activities using substrate incubations
- Characterize microbial community composition through DNA extraction and Illumina amplicon sequencing
- Analyze and statistically evaluate the experimental data
- Measurement of additional parameters (DOC, transcriptome) if feasible
- Interpret the results
Your Profile
- Enrolled at an University
- BSc in Biology, Microbiology, Environmental Sciences, Marine Sciences or a related field
- Experience with laboratory work (e.g. microbiology, molecular biology, biogeochemistry) is desirable
- Basic experience with data analysis and statistics is an advantage
- Ability to work independently, carefully and reliably, and as part of a team
- Good spoken and written English and the ability to work in an international research environment
Further Information
The Master’s project will be hosted by the HGF-MPG Group for Deep Sea Ecology and Technology. The work will be conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, with selected work also carried out at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven.
Starting date: March 2027, with some flexibility by agreement.
You are interested?
Please send your application, including (1) a letter of motivation, (2) your CV, (3) your university transcripts (combined into a single PDF) to Dr. Melanie Bergmann (Melanie.Bergmann@awi.de) and Dr. Christina Bienhold (cbienhol@mpi-bremen.de).
Applications can be submitted as long as this advertisement is still online.
