Dr Judith van Bleijswijk Tierens Verhagen

I study marine organisms from virus to whale. The role of microorganisms in the physical and chemical composition of oceans and seas is large and diverse. Our goal is to learn more about these roles, about implications for climate and robust ecosystems, and about how these roles may change under human induced perturbations. DNA is a useful target to study ecology of marine organisms, and our labs are fully equipped for this goal. We study marine communities via DNA that organisms release into the environment (eDNA); we also study food webs by looking for prey DNA in feces and guts. This allows to find essential dependencies and interactions among different organisms whatever their size is.