New Zealand: PhD Scholarship, Revealing Larval Lobster Diet, University of Auckland

PhD Scholarship, Revealing Larval Lobster Diet, University of Auckland, New Zealand

PhD Scholarship
Revealing Larval Lobster Diet
School of Biological Sciences
and Leigh Marine Laboratory
University of Auckland

Rock lobsters or spiny lobsters form the basis of valuable wild fisheries throughout the world, including New Zealand where they provide around $120M a year in exports. However, the larval biology of spiny lobsters is very poorly understood because the larvae spend many months feeding in open ocean waters before swimming back to our coasts to settle on reefs as juveniles. The natural diet of larval lobsters remains a mystery, although they are known to be voracious predators when held in captivity. Recent advances in molecular genetics techniques, especially for forensic purposes, provide powerful new tools with excellent potential for identifying the natural prey of wild larval lobsters from DNA recovered from the guts of larvae caught from the wild. Identifying the natural prey of spiny lobsters for the first time has the potential to provide new insights into huge natural fluctuations in the larval supply and recruitment to important lobster fisheries, and may help with future aquaculture.

This project will enable a PhD candidate to work with leading marine molecular geneticists, biochemists and lobster scientists from NZ, with some collaboration with Japanese counterparts, to collaboratively identify the natural prey species of larval lobsters. Questions to be addressed include: determining the optimum identification methodologies; exploring the theoretical constraints of molecular species identification; and the implications of results from this work for understanding trophic interactions in the open ocean.

The PhD candidate will use molecular techniques to investigate larval lobster prey species, beginning with experimentally fed larvae, and moving on to wild-caught larvae. A variety of techniques will be trialled, including advanced DNA sequencing technologies. The student will be based at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland. The ideal student will have an excellent BSc(Hons) or MSc in Biological Sciences with experience in molecular biology techniques, including DNA sequencing, and good bioinformatics skills.

Applications and enquiries should be addressed to:

Assoc. Prof. Andrew Jeffs: a.jeffs[ at ]auckland.ac.nz or

Dr. Shane Lavery: s.lavery[ at ]auckland.ac.nz or

Dr Tony Hickey: a.hickey[ at ]auckland.ac.nz

Applicants should include a cover letter, a CV and the e-mail addresses of at least two referees.