Ongoing projects

CYANOCOST

• Funding : COST Office of the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI)
• 2013 – 2018
• This project studies the interactions between eutrophication and climate change in promoting blooms of cyanobacteria
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• PhD student : Evanthia Mantzouki
• Partners : all CYANOCOST countries

NETLAKE

• Funding : COST Office of the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI)
• 2014-2017
• This project studies the niche based and neutral mechanisms that promote co-existence and biodiversity of phytoplankton in per-alpine lakes
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• Postdoc : Irene Gallego
• Partners : all NETLAKE countries

LéXPLORE (Lac Léman Exploration)

• 2013-2027
• Funding : Swiss National Science Foundations (SNF) - Réquip
• This project aims to install a state of the art research platform, with automated high frequency monitoring of Lake Geneva physics, chemistry and plankton biology, coupled to remote sensing
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• Partners : EPFL Limnology Center, Eawag SURF and Aquatic Ecology, INRA-CARRTEL

 LAKE_3D

• 2016-2020
• Funding Swiss National Science Foundations (SNF) – Sinergia
• This projects studies the fine scale segregation of phytoplankton communities over 3 spatial dimensions. Does climate warming change the (physical) conditions for phytoplankton coexistence and biodiversity?
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• PhD student : Marie-Caroline Tiffay
• Partners : EPFL DISAL and EPFL Limnology Center, CNRS Laboratoire d¹Océanologie et de Géosciences

BIOFUN

• Funding : Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
• 2016-2020
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• This project studies the role of parasitic chytrid fungi for the evolution and maintenance of genetic and chemotypic (production of bioactive compounds) in cyanobacteria
• PhD student : Joren Wierenga
• Partners : University of Helsinki, Université Blaise Pascal, Eawag, NIOO

MANTEL (Management of climate extreme events in lakes and reservoirs for the protection of ecosystem services)

• 2017-2021
• Funding H2020 : Marie-Curie ITN
• This project studies the occurrence of extreme and episodic events, the disturbances they cause on lake ecosystem functioning and effect on lake ecosystem resilience
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• PhD student(s) : Vacancies
• Partners : all MANTEL participating partners

LIFE_ICE (Life under ice)

• Funding : Feel Foundation (VD)
• 2014-2017
• This project studies the physical, chemical and biological processes in the two largest European lakes, Ladoga and Onego (Russia), comparing convection driven phytoplankton distribution under ice in winter and in open water during the other seasons
• UniGe Responsible Bas Ibelings
• PhD students : Marie Caroline Tiffay
• Partners : EPFL Limnology Center (lead), Northern Water Problems Institute, Eawag, INRA-CARRTEL, University of Konstanz, Uppsala University

PHYTEC (Phytoplankton Ecuador)

• Funding : Senescyt Ecuador “Pueblos y Nacionalidades” program and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
• 2015 – 2019
• This project studies the structure of freshwater lake ecosystems in Ecuador
• UniGe Responsibles : Bas Ibelings, Patrick Venail.
• PhD student : Alonso Cartuche
• Partners: Universidad Nacional de Loja (Ecuador) and Secretaria del Agua (Senagua, Ecuador).

 PDEFF (Phytoplankton diversity and ecosystem functioning in freshwater systems)

• Funding : China Research Council and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
• 2016 – 2019
• This project studies the influence of phytoplankton diversity on ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services in freshwater systems
• UniGe Responsibles : Bas Ibelings, Patrick Venail
• PhD student Ziyu Guan
• Partners: none

PHYMANGROVE

• Funding : Fondation Waechter and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) – Doc Mobility
• 2016-2019
• This project studies high frequency dynamics in the environment of tropical coastal ecosystems – mangrove forests – and how this dynamic environment maintains and promotes the functional biodiversity of phytoplankton
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• PhD student : Fabio Correia
• Partners : Institute for Oceanography, University of Lisbon, University of French West Indies and Guyana

EVOCOMP (Long term evolution resource competition)

• 2016-2019
• Funding : University of Geneva – DIP
• This project studies the co-evolution of two phytoplankters, a cyanobacterium and a green alga during 1000 generations of resource competition
• UniGe Responsible : Bas Ibelings
• PhD student : Ena Suarez Bolanos
• Partners : Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO), University of Amsterdam