Niklas
Ratajczak
Doctoral Researcher, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Doctoral Researcher, Department of Biology
M.Sc. Marine Biology; PhD candidate University of Turku; UTU-GreDiT research fellow

Areas of expertise

UTU-GreDiT
Marine Ecology
Marine Biology
Invasion Ecology
Invasive Species

Biography

I completed my B.Sc. at the University of Rostock, Germany in Biological Sciences, and then my M.Sc. in Marine Biology at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. I have experience as a student tutor and as a certified SCUBA Dive Master, and have also worked for a bio-consulting company between my M.Sc. and the start of my PhD at the University of Turku in August 2023. I am part of the EU co-funded UTU-GreDiT PhD program.

Research

My PhD research focuses on the impact of an invasive marine omnivore - the Harris mud-crab (Rhithropanopeus harrisii) - on the ecosystems and organism communities of the shallow, littoral ecosystems of the Archipelago Sea, Finland. I investigate effects induced by the mud-crab via predation on important native herbivore species and how they cascade to and affect lower trophic levels, energy & matter flows between trophic levels (Primary & Secondary Production), Carbon sequestration and community structure. Also, I investigate how eutrophication influences the development of the invasion.