11/2020 - present   Postdoc at the Department of Aquatic Ecology, NIOO-KNAW, Wageningen, NL

10/2016 - 01/2021  PhD at the Department of Aquatic Ecology, NIOO-KNAW, Wageningen, NL

09/2013 - 06/2016  Master at the College of Water conservancy and hydropower engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, PRC

09/2009 - 06/2013  Bachelor at the College of Water conservancy and hydropower engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, PRC

Mooij Group
The main theme in the Mooij Group is the modeling of aquatic ecosystems as a whole and processes therein. The central question is how the combination of...Read more

PhD project: Ensemble modelling of coupled hydrodynamic and biogeochemical processes to predict algal blooms in polluted lakes

 

In order to build better aquatic ecological models, we have the collaboration with Deltares.

The Anthropocene, the current epoch of strong human impact, causes widespread eutrophication of waters by urban, agricultural and industrial activities, resulting in the overabundance of nutrients for the primary production in aquatic ecosystems. Algae thrives in this situation and the growth of some species groups is even further boosted by rising temperature caused by the global climate change. This holds in particular for the cyanobacteria that cause harmful algal blooms.

Algal blooms are a very apparent aspect of water quality deterioration because of the foul odors and tastes, deoxy-generation of bottom waters, toxicity, fish kills, and food web alterations they cause. Toxins produces by blooms can bring serious and occasionally fatal human liver, digestive, neurological and skin diseases. The surface-dwelling and scum-forming algae can isolate the light from the submerged plants and the oxygen from the fish, which ruins the aquatic ecosystem diversity. These degradations caused by algal blooms can adversely affect the waters used for recreational and drinking purposes.
The vital position of algae in the aquatic food web leads to a multiplicity of interactions of this group of species with other biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem. The complexity of these interactions makes it beyond our mental ability to interpret these mechanisms without mathematical modelling. Models can properly handle the required complexity and help researchers to gain insight and policy makers optimize the scenarios for ecosystem management that are at their disposal.

Once properly developed, the extended model will provide a reliable tool to predict algal bloom development in relation to prevailing weather conditions, local nutrient loadings and the characteristics of the ecosystem under study. Hence the water quality managers develop long term effective strategies for the mitigation of anthropogenic stress on aquatic ecosystems and make short term predictions of harmful algal blooms in order to safeguard the usage of surface water for recreation and drinking water production.