Aiden Berg
PhD student
PhD: River’s edge: using eDNA to unravel multi-stressor impacts and guide riparian wetland restoration
This project is part of the ECOWILD Centre for Ecologically Relevant Multiple Stressor effects on Wetland Wildscapes.
Supervisor: Prof. Bernd Hänfling
Academic background:
I have previously completed an MRes in Ecology and Environmental Science at Glasgow University, and a BSc (Hons) at the University of Aberdeen in Zoology. There, I developed a variety of skills such as metabarcoding optimisation, assessing habitat and biodiversity changes to inform management and conservation, examining ecosystem changes over time, and applying non-invasive monitoring to native species. Particularly, I have developed field ecology skills for monitoring and assessing a variety of species and habitats, quantifying environmental impacts, and providing recommendations for biodiversity enhancements and management practices.
MRes: Optimising long-read sequencing analysis for an avian predator. Comparing traditional pellet dissection of great skua pellets with an optimised high-throughput sequencing protocol for MinION to aid conservation efforts for predated seabirds.
BSc Hons: Cuckoo phenology shift over time associated with climate and anthropogenic changes in habitats. Using citizen science to estimate phenological shift of cuckoos and comparing to land use and change as well as temperature changes in the UK.
Research interests:
- Biodiversity
- Ecology
- Non-invasive monitoring methods
- Evolutionary Biology
- Ecogenomics