First MARiNAO funded PhD student graduated
Friday 30 January, Costanza Cappelli defended her PhD work at DTU.
Costanza Cappelli has been working on the PhD project as part of the MARiNAO funded project Blue Ocean, led by Professor Brian R. MacKenzie at DTU Aqua in collaboration with colleagues at DTU Aqua and Faroe Marine Research Institute.
The PhD-thesis is called: “Physical processes affecting stock dynamics of blue whiting in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.”
Costanza’s PhD-thesis investigates how ocean-climate dynamics shape blue whiting recruitment variability. Blue whiting is a very abundant fish in the Northeast Atlantic and supports one of the world’s largest pelagic fisheries. However, the number of young fish that survive to join the adult stock biomass changes widely from year to year, and this variability is not well explained by spawning stock biomass alone. Because of this, biological advice on the management of this fish stock is quite uncertain.
The results of Costanza’s research show that the recruitment variability is closely linked to ocean-climate conditions around the main spawning grounds west of Ireland and the British Isles. Among other things, she demonstrates that a wind stress curl in the year before spawning is strongly related to recruitment, and she dives into the mechanisms underlying the relationship between wind stress curl and recruitment. Thus, the thesis provides a step toward a more climate-informed and ecosystem-based management.
Joint PhD project
Costanza Cappelli has been enrolled as PhD-student at DTU Aqua and has been on research stays at Faroe Marine Research Institute.
Supervisors
Principal Supervisor: Professor Brian R. MacKenzie, DTU Aqua
Co-supervisor: Researcher Hjálmar Hátún, Faroe Marine Research Institute
Co-supervisor: Professor André W. Visser, DTU Aqua
Examiners
Professor Marja Koski, DTU Aqua (chair)
Professor David Reid, The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Denmark
Professor Neil Banas, University of Strathclyde, UK
Chair of defence
Professor Patrizio Mariani, DTU Aqua
Learn more
Read the popular science summary of Costanza Cappelli’s PhD thesis
The thesis will be made available online on DTU’s website
Costanza Cappelli will ciontinue as post.doc. at DTU Aqua workng on blue whiting and its recruitment variability in relation to ocean-climate dynamics.
Funding
This PhD project was funded by the Research Council Faroe Islands (Granskingarráðið) under the MARiNAO (Marine Research in the North Atlantic Ocean) programme.
Image: From the defense: Costanza Cappelli (c) Private image