Karla Münzner

I study the algae Gonyostomum semen, which causes nuisance algal blooms. My goal is to find out how those algal blooms affect the lake ecosystem and water quality.

Bachelor of Science in "Environmental and Resource Management" at BTU Cottbus (Germany)

Master of Science in "Aquatic Ecology" at Lund University (Sweden)

PhD student in Biology (specialisation: Limnology) at Uppsala University (Sweden)

In my PhD, I try to answer two main questions:

1) Which factors drive Gonyostomum semen growth and abundance?

Gonyostomum semen is a nuisance algae that is typically found in brown lakes. As brownification of lakes has increased over the last decades, Gonyostomum semen has also expanded its geographical range and has bloomed more frequently. It is unclear why Gonyostomum semen seems to thrive in browner waters, however, and that is what I want to find out.

2) What effects will Gonyostomum semen blooms have on the lake ecosystem?

Gonyostomum semen blooms can cause problems because of two reasons: firstly, they are slimy. Swimming in such a bloom is uncomfortable, and a bloom can clog water filters used for biological sampling or cleaning drinking water. Secondly, Gonyostomum semen blooms have a high biomass and can completely dominate over other phytoplankton species in a lake. This can affect the lake ecosystem on many different levels, like carbon cycling, phytoplankton and zooplankton species composition and fish stocks. My goal is study those ecosystem effects to learn more about the effects of Gonyostomum semen on the whole lake.