The last UiO:Life Science summer project in our group was conducted by Mari Dønnum Klausen. She investigated the distribution of meiofauna organisms along public swimming beaches on Nesodden. She herself wrote about her project on her final poster:

“To be able to understand human impact on ecological systems, scientists must be able to assess the biodiversity of different ecological systems in a precise and efficient way. In order to do this, baseline studies and the building of a reference library is necessary. By analysing samples from the baseline study, it is possible to get an idea of how the biodiversity is composed in a specific environment and how different ecological factors influence the system. In this study, we are interested in looking into the diversity of three different taxonomical groups in particular. Annelids (segmented worms/leddormer), platyhelminths (flatworms/flatormer), and nematodes (roundworms/rundormer).

The aim of this project was therefore to establish a baseline for further research to build upon, and, through DNA studies, build up a reference library to help make further studies quicker and easier to carry out.”

To do so she sampled along transects at the beaches from the low waterline to the foot of the dune or the end of the beach. Samples were down to the groundwater level. She identified the species to different taxonomic levels and also barcoded them. An exemplary results can be found below showing the general distribution of the three studied groups along the transects.

Text in the teaser: Would like to know what we did at these beaches on Nesodden? Watch out for December 15th.

Picture in the teaser: