Marc-Alexander Gose

PhD student in Genetics and Genomics

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Edinburgh’s conservation genetics group. I am interested in understanding population genetic structure of wildlife populations and using the results to inform conservation management. I graduated with a M.Sc. in biology from the Ruhr‑University Bochum, Germany in 2019. Through field excursions and voluntary internships in the Azores and Iceland, I focused my studies on marine mammals, specifically cetaceans. I set up a project on humpback whale population genetics in collaboration with research institutions in Iceland for my master’s project.

During my Ph.D., I will take advantage of a large tissue database from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) to detect population structure in two common, but widely understudied dolphin species: the white beaked dolphin and the Atlantic white sided dolphin. With the help of genetic and genomic tools, I aim to get a detailed picture about the genetic structure within both species and combine this data with potential factors that could endanger a species or a subpopulation with a focus on infectious diseases and climate change-induced habitat change. Eventually, this project aims to gather knowledge of two understudied dolphin species and inform conservation management entities to help implement appropriate conservation measures for small cetaceans in European waters.

For any questions regarding my project please send me an email.