Irina Zhulay
- E-mailIrina.Zhulay@uib.no
- Visitor AddressThormøhlens gate 53 A/B5006 Bergen
- Postal AddressPostboks 78035020 Bergen
I am working on the Eco-Safe Ridge Mining Project (Eco-Safe project). The project is aimed to gain knowledge on Arctic deep-sea biota and environment across the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge – a region where deep-sea mining is currently under consideration. Data generated during the project will shed some light on poorly known Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge ecosystems, which will further help to evaluate the potential impacts of the mining on these ecosystems and develop mitigation actions regarding the mining in the region. My research at UiB focuses on analyzing seafloor imagery collected with an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) and a description of benthic biotopes associated with seafloor mineral deposits.
Myreserach interests include: (1) functioning and dynamics of Arctic marine ecosystems, in particular benthic communities; (2) deep-sea ecosystems; (3) ecosystem responses to climate change; (4) effects of anthropogenic activities on the marine environment; (5) marine food webs.
- (2021). Functional Pattern of Benthic Epifauna in the Chukchi Borderland, Arctic Deep Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science. 20 pages.
- (2020). Epibenthic megafauna communities in Northeast Greenland vary across coastal, continental shelf and slope habitats. Polar Biology. 1623-1642.
- (2019). Epifaunal communities across marine landscapes of the deep Chukchi Borderland (Pacific Arctic). Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 17 pages.
- (2015). Effects of aquaculture fallowing on the recovery of macrofauna communities. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 381-390.
- (2019). Biological and functional traits of Arctic deep-sea benthos. .
- (2018). Epifaunal communities at ridge, plateau and basin locations in the Chukchi Borderland, Arctic deep sea.
- (2018). The Chukchi Borderlands – Unexplored Seafloor Communities. .
- (2017). Epibenthic communities in the Amerasian deep-sea Chukchi Borderland.
- (2018). Trait-based approaches in rapidly changing ecosystems: A roadmap to the future polar oceans. Ecological Indicators. 722-736.
More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)
EDUCATION
November 2015 - June 2022
Philosophiae doctor (PhD) in Natural Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Thesis title: Arctic deep-sea benthos: Biodiversity, biological traits, and food webs.
August 2011 - July 2013
Master of Science in Aquaculture, Nord University, Bodø, Norway, Thesis title: Impact of sea-cage fish farms: short-term recovery of benthic communities.
September 2006 - June 2011
Bachelor in Ecology Science, Petrozavodsk State University, Faculty of Ecology and Biology, Petrozavodsk, Russia, Main focus of the study: conservation biology.
WORK
January 2023 - present
Postoctoral Fellow within Eco-Safe Ridge Mining project, Depatment of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen
July 2022 - December 2022
Research assistant within the VISTA-program and Nansen Legacy project, UiT, BFE, Tromsø.
February 2022 - April 2022
Research assistant within the A-TWAIN project, UiT, BFE, Tromsø.
April 2020 - December 2020
Research technician within MAREANO, Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø.
September 2019 - February 2020
Coordinator in High North Academy project (50% position), UiT, Tromsø.
November 2015 - March 2020
PhD student with 25% of teaching duties, UiT, BFE, Tromsø.
January 2015 - December 2015
Researcher at the Otto Schmidt Laboratory (OSL) under a fellowship program, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, OSL laboratory, St. Petersburg, Russia, Project title: Climate change and zooplankton composition variations in freshwater arctic lakes: current trends.
June 2013 - June 2014
Research technician in Nordscreen project, Research station, University of Nordland, Bodø.
RESEARCH SKILLS/EXPERIENCE
Field work at sea; sampling with trawl, grab, box core, ROV, benthic lander, CTD, plankton nets; benthic laboratory work; experience with benthic fauna taxonomy of cold-water and Arctic seas from shallow and deep habitats; imagery analysis of seafloor and fauna; stable isotope sample collection and processing; biological trait collection and analysis; measurement of physicochemical parameters of sediments (Eh, pH, temperature); measurement of algal pigment concertation (Chl a, phaeopigments), freshwater zooplankton sample collection and processing; experience with microbiology work; RNA and DNA extraction; PCR running.
FIELD WORK EXPERIENCE
Teaching cruises around Lofoten area, Spring 2016-2018; TUNU cruise to East Greenland, September, 2017; Cruise around Svalbard fjords during AB-821 course (Arctic benthic ecology), August, 2017; HEALY Hidden Ocean Expedition to the Chukchi Borderland, July-August, 2016; Expedition to Samoylov island, Siberia, Russia, June – August 2015; Short filed trips to fish farms in Northern Norway (Nord Arnøy), 2012 - 2013
RESEARCH VISITS
Research visits to University of Alaska Fairbanks (the benthic lab of Prof. K. Iken, and UAF Institute of Northern Engineering stable isotope lab, hosted by Norma Haubenstock and Tim Howe), Alaska, August – September, 2017
CONFERENCES
Zhulay, I, Iken, K, Degen, R, Renaud, PE, Bluhm, BA. Biological and functional traits of Arctic deep-sea benthos, ICES conference, September 9 – 12, 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden; oral presentation.
Zhulay, I, Iken, K, Degen, R, Renaud, PE, Bluhm, BA. Epifaunal communities across marine landscapes of the deep Chukchi Borderland (Pacific Arctic), 15th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium, September 10 – 14, 2018, Monterey, USA; poster.
Zhulay, I, Iken, K, Renaud, PE, Bluhm, BA. Epibenthic communities in heterogeneous Chukchi Borderland, young biologists forum, September, 2017, Petrozavodsk, Russia; oral presentation.
Zhulay, I, Iken, K, Renaud, PE, Bluhm, BA. Epibenthic communities in the Amerasian Chukchi Borderland, Arctic Frontiers, December 2017, Tromsø, Norway; poster.
Zhulay, I, Iken, K, Renaud, PE, Bluhm, BA. The Arctic traits Workshop, organized by Renata Degen (University of Vienna Department of Limnology and Bio-Oceanography), December 1-2, 2016, Vienna, Austria; oral presentation.
Zhulay, I, Abramova E. Climate change and zooplankton composition variations in freshwater arctic lakes: current trends, The 5th International Scientific Conference «Dynamics and functioning of aquatic ecosystems under the impact of climate change and anthropogenic stress» to commemorate Professor Georgij G. Winberg (1905-1987), St.Petersburg on 12-17 October 2015, oral presentation.
Zhulay, I, Abramova E. Climate change and zooplankton composition variations in freshwater arctic lakes: current trends, The 3rd CLIOTOP Symposium, 14-18 September 2015, San Sebastian, Spain; poster.
Zhulay, I, Reiss, H. Impact of sea-cage fish farms: short-term recovery of benthic communities. 49th European Marine Biology Symposium, September 8–12, 2014, St. Petersburg, Russia, Zoologi cal Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences; poster.
Zhulay, I, Reiss, H. Impact of sea-cage fish farms: short-term recovery of benthic communities. Nordic Marine Science conference, Oslo, Norway, 2013; poster.
PROJECTS
Degen, R, et al. Arctic Traits Project focusing on Benthic Ecosystem Functioning Across Arctic Shelves, Slopes and Basins, funded by the Austrian science foundation, 2016 – 2018. Role: contribution to data collection and compilation of the Arctic Trait database (https://www.univie.ac.at/arctictraits/), taking part in writing the paper.
Christiansen, JS, et al. TUNU Euro-Arctic fishes, diversity and adaptations; Benthic team focused on epibenthic community structure and food webs, 2017. Role: participation in fieldwork, contribution to sample collection and processing, and contribution to paper writing based on data collected.
Iken et al. Hidden Ocean: Chukchi Borderland, NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration, benthic team with a focus on arctic deep-sea communities, their biodiversity, functional traits and food webs, 2015 – 2022. Role: taking part in all steps of the project except conceiving idea for the project and getting funding for fieldwork.
Zhulay, I, Abramova E. Climate change and zooplankton composition variations in freshwater arctic lakes: current trends, OSL-Fellowship Program 2015: Climate Change in the Arctic. Role: sample collection, processing, writing reports for the grant committee, presenting data on annual meetings and conferences, participating in paper writing summarizing results of the study.