Droevendaalsesteeg 10
6708 PB Wageningen
The Netherlands
Chaohong (Harley) Lin
About
Combining functional trait theory and microfludic technology to study the behaviors of cyanobacteria under climate change.
Biography
I studied Environmental Sciences & Engineering for my bachelor's in China, during which time I explored multiple research areas including hydrology, hydrogeochemistry, and wastewater treatment. I obtained my master's degree in Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) where I specialized in aquatic ecology. I did my master's thesis on ecotoxicology in the chair group of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management of WUR. Later I finished my research internship on phytoplankton ecology at NIOO.
After graduation from WUR, I rooted in Wageningen again and started my PhD at NIOO in 2023. In this PhD project, we will develop microfluidic devices and apply this novel technology to study the traits of cyanobacteria under the impacts of climate change. The "microfluidic" part of the project is in close cooperation with the experts of the BIOS lab at the University of Twente (the Netherlands).
Research groups
CV
Employment
2023–Present
PhD candidate
Education
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2017–2021China Universiy of Geosciences
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2021–2023Wageningen Universiy & Research
Projects & collaborations
Projects
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Climate change impacts on harmful algal blooms
Harmful cyanobacterial blooms produce toxins that are a major threat to water quality and human health. Blooms increase with eutrophication and are expected to be amplified by climate change. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding on the toxicity of blooms, and their response to the complex interplay of multiple global change factors. Bloom toxicity is determined by a combination of mechanisms acting at different ecological scales, ranging from cyanobacterial biomass accumulation in the ecosystem, to the dominance of toxic species in the community, contribution of toxic genotypes in the population, and the amounts of toxins in cells.
Featured in
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Dealing with bluegreen algae
Worldwide, excessive nutrient loads in lakes and reservoirs have led to the rapid increase of harmful cyanobacteria. Blooms of these algae block the use of surface water for drinking, irrigation and recreation. Climate change is expected to further increase the frequency, duration, and magnitude of cyanobacterial blooms. Aquatic ecologists from NIOO are busy gaining more detailed insights into cyanobacterial blooms across scales, in future climates and in respect to toxicity.