Mia Bengtsson

I am a microbial ecologist striving to understand how microbial communities are influenced by – and themselves influence – the changing environment. My main focus is interactions between algae and bacteria in different aquatic environments and the consequences of these interactions for carbon cycling. My research has addressed this topic in several aquatic ecosystems including marine kelp forests and seagrass meadows, freshwater stream biofilms and lake plankton. A wide variety of scientific tools, including field surveys, microcosm and mesocosm experimentation, molecular community analysis using high-throughput sequencing technology, state of the art microscopy techniques, stable isotope techniques, bioinformatics and statistical analysis allows me to tackle diverse questions in aquatic ecology. I am an enthusiastic teacher of Biology on both basic and advanced levels and I am strongly committed to communication of science to the general public. I studied biology in my hometown, Stockholm, and then I moved on to PhD studies in Bergen, Norway. After a postdoc period in Vienna, Austria I am now a junior group leader in Greifswald, Germany.