We are pleased to welcome Marjolijn Rika Nijzingh as a new PhD student working on mapping biodiversity in Icelandic waters using environmental DNA (eDNA). Her research will generate valuable data to support future conservation planning.
Marjolijn is supervised by Pampoulie Christophe (Hafrannsóknastofnun – Marine & Freshwater Research Institute), Davíð Gíslason (Matís Iceland) and Snæbjörn Pálsson (Háskóli Íslands) and she will contribute to the BioProtect and VS eDNA projects.
This summer, she joined the research vessel Árni Friðriksson during the annual international ecosystem survey in the Nordic seas. Over the course of one month, she collected eDNA samples from 37 stations across the Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Samples were taken throughout the water column (0, 20, 50, 200, and 500 m), resulting in a total of 325 samples.
These samples will be analysed in the coming months to detect the presence of fish, marine mammals, invertebrates, phytoplankton, and cold-water corals. The results will provide the first large-scale eDNA-based biodiversity map of Icelandic waters.
This marks the largest eDNA sampling effort ever undertaken in Iceland, representing a significant step forward in supporting evidence-based decision-making and advancing the goals of 30×30 by 2030!
