Researcher

Marleen De Troch

Research Expertise (Flanders Hydraulics):Prof. Dr. Marleen De Troch is a marine ecologist with a research interest in the role of invertebrates in marine food webs. Trophic interactions at the basis of marine food webs (mainly between bacteria, diatoms and copepods) are analysed by means of lab experiments and trophic biomarkers (stable isotopes, fatty acids). Special focus lies on fatty acid profiling but also transcriptomics are applied to understand the molecular aspects of the lipid metabolism under different stress conditions in a climate change context. The research is further extended to higher trophic levels in order to obtain an ecological basis of sustainable use of marine resources (aquaculture). The research is hypothesis driven and is conducted in coastal systems worldwide.

Keywords (Flanders Hydraulics):Copepoda [copepods], Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, Fatty acids, Feeding experiments, Marine food web, Stable isotopes, Trophic markers, Unknown
Keywords (Ghent University):ecosystem functioning, marine ecology, marine food webs, harpacticoid copepods, biodiversity, fatty acids

Disciplines (Ghent University):Marine ecology, Aquatic biology, Animal cell and molecular biology, Lipidomics