Thesis Subject:
The Bacterial community associated with jellyfish and the potential influence of DOM released by jellfish on the bacterial communities

Scientific Interests and Goals:
Recently, pollution, eutrophication, climate change and many anthropogenic activities have greatly altered the natural marine environment. It results in increasing number of jellyfish population on the world scale of ocean ecosystems. Jellyfish release nutrients and dissolved organic matter in the course of their activities, which may contribute substantially to the carbon standing stock of plankton food webs. In addition, Bacteria thrive in the dissolved organic carbon released by live jellyfish and have an important role in the circulation of nutrients in the marine ecosystem. Little is known about the population and ecological data of medusa and ctenophores. Even less is known about the bacterial community associated with the jellyfish and the impact of DOM released by jellfish on the bacterial community.
First, I will focus on the bacterial community associated with ctenophore. Second, I plan to analysis the bacterial community associated with different life stages of Scyphomedusae. Third, I will detect the influence of DOM released by jellyfish on the free-living bacterial communities.
I will apply the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) for the analyses of the bacterial community structure. For the bacterial community composition, I will apply the 16S ribosomal amplicon pyrosequcencing and Catalyzed Reporter Deposition Fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH).