Curriculum Vitae
Ellen Weerman (1980) studied Environmental Sciences at the Van Hall Institute (Leeuwarden, the Netherlands) where she graduated in 2003. As part of this BSc study several internships were carried out at different institutes focussing on aquatic and marine ecology. Projecs were carried out at The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea research (Royal NIOZ) focussing on the energy budget of marine bivalve larvae Macoma balthica. Another project concerning the intersex in the amphipod Echinogammarus marinus was carried out at Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland. Her BSc thesis was carried out at the University of Amsterdam at the research group Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology. This thesis dealed with the biofilm development on copper contaminated sediment.
After this study she started the MSc course Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management at Wageningen University, the Neherlands. During this study she assessed two theses at the Wageningen University. Her minor thesis focussed on the endocrine disrupting effects of four commonly occuring compounds using reporter gene assays. Her major thesis focussed on the effects of four pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, diclofenac, clofibric acid, carbamazepine) on algae and the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus. Competition experiments between green algae and cyanobacteria were carried out as well as life history experiments with the rotifer using different food sources and four different pharmacuticals.
In October 2005 she started a PhD project at the NIOO-CEME in cooperation of the University of Amsterdam-Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology group. Were she studies the effect of biological interactions generating spatial heterogeneity of microphytes in fresh as well as in marine benthic systems.
Projects
Benthic algae - grazer interaction generating spatial heterogeneity of biofilms on intertidal flats and river floodplains.
My research focusses on the importance of interactions between biofilm and grazing by macrobenthos which causes biofilm patchiness on intertidal flats and river floodplains. The study will include fieldwork, labwork and modelling on both fresh and saltwater ecosystems. The biofilm development will be monitored to find seasonal patterns in the spatial heterogeneity. Also experiments in the field and laboratory will be assessed to determine the positive and negative interactions of biomats and grazers. Spatial explicit modeling of the grazer interactions and perturbation regimes will be used to investigate alternative hypotheses on the role of grazing for generation patches. This study also aims to test the applicability of theories of terrestrial spatial plant-herbivore interactions on aquatic systems and to improve a better understanding of benthic foodwebs.
Patchiness of benthic algae on the intertidal flat Kapellebank, Netherlands
Co-Operation
University of Amsterdam Department Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology
http://www.science.uva.nl/aee
Centre for Wetland Ecology
http://www.wetland-ecology.nl/
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