Linnaeus University Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial model Systems (EEMiS)

The Baltic Sea is a vulnerable environment which is strongly affected by human activities in the surrounding countries. The Swedish government has also designated the Baltic Sea as an ecosystem of special societal significance. 

We live in an ever-changing world and all organisms, including human beings, are affected when the habitat changes. Some changes in the environment are natural and predictable, such as seasonal variations in weather conditions.

However, ecosystems are also affected by human activity in the form of eutrophication caused by over-fertilization, overfishing, or the emission of greenhouse gases which contributes to global warming. The effect of human actions becomes more acute as a result of the population growth and increasing urbanisation. This may have serious ramifications for – among other things – biological diversity and the distribution of organisms and genetic variation. In turn, this will eventually have negative consequences for the health of both people and animals as well as for food production.

In order to understand the effects of these environmental impacts, we need more knowledge about the very smallest organisms. Microorganisms interact with all living creatures, from microscopic algae to humans. For example, phytoplankton is important for the stock of animals and plants in our seas as they produce carbon and nitrogen which are indispensable for marine ecosystems. But certain types of phytoplankton, such as cyanobacteria, also produce toxins which – in combination with eutrophication – can harm marine life and eventually humans.

By concentrating their efforts and using microbial systems in their research work, the researchers at EEMiS will be able to exploit an almost vacant niche in the research community and contribute with important new insights.

Traditionally, evolutionary ecology research has focused on the larger, conspicuous animals and plants with spectacular shapes, colours, habits and behaviour.

In our research we study microorganisms, which are very suitable for experimental research, even if they at first may appear rather inconspicuous. Their smallness, rapid growth and short generation time means that both complicated and slow processes can be studied in a small space and a short time. Despite this, they have rarely been used when trying to solve general ecological and evolutionary questions.

Furthermore, ecology, evolutionary ecology and microbial ecology are by tradition regarded as different disciplines, which has previously made multidisciplinary research much more difficult.