Sanne Mariël Moedt

• Presentation
• Research outputs

My research is focused on primary producer communities in Arctic and subarctic lakes and ponds in Greenland and their response to climate change. As rising temperatures are impacting the Arctic region, we see shifts in the functioning of freshwater ecosystems. This project seeks to extend our knowledge of how phytoplankton and benthic communities respond to changing environmental conditions.

The aim of my project is to (i) measure the present rates of overall primary production and primary producer biomass in lakes in South and West Greenland, (ii) determine primary producer community structure and functional diversity, (iii) evaluate the possible effects of changing nutrient and light conditions in ponds, and finally (iv) to analyse changes in biomass and species composition for phytoplankton communities in Greenland through existing monitoring data from Zackenberg. By studying these aspects of Arctic and subarctic lakes and ponds we can improve our understanding of how climate change affects the functioning of lake ecosystems by focusing on its foundation; namely primary production.