- Lead scientist: Riikka Puntila, Marine research center, Finnish environment institute
- Co-scientist: Jane Behrens, Section for Marine Ecology and Oceanography, Technical University of Denmark, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua)
Project objectives
We aim to identify and develop species specific heat shock protein (HSP) sequences to be used in testing whether stress from suboptimal abiotic conditions (especially salinity) impacts the invasive round goby at individual level and thus potentially limit their range expansion from the brackish western Baltic Sea and towards a full oceanic environment in the Skagerrak/North Sea. Round goby is an extremely successful invasive species, tolerant to many environmental conditions and it has been able to establish to almost all parts on the Baltic Sea. The range expansion has, however, been significantly slower in the high salinity areas in the Danish straits and west coast of Sweden. The method will be extremely useful in the future when testing the impacts of various suboptimal abiotic conditions on the round goby's fitness and growth, which in turn impact their range expansion potential and therefore the method has several direct management applications.
Scientists involved in the project
Dorte Bekkevold, Senior Research Scientist, genetics specialist, Technical University of Denmark, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua)
