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Doctor

Linda Armbrecht

Senior Lecturer

Ecology and Biodiversity

Orcid identifier0000-0002-1213-1257
  • Senior Lecturer
    Ecology and Biodiversity
  • Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Ecology and Biodiversity, IMAS Salamanca, Hobart CBD Campuses, TAS

BIO

Dr Linda Armbrecht is an ARC DECRA Fellow (DE210100929) at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania. Her research focuses on the reconstruction of marine ecosystems with an emphasis on the Antarctic environment, where research into resilience and sustainability is critical due to climate change. Linda specialises in paleo-genomics techniques, in particular, the analysis of ancient DNA from the seafloor (sedaDNA). These novel approaches allow her to track complex species-level and ecosystem-wide changes over thousands of years, knowledge that can be directly applied to predicting future changes and management of marine ecosystems, fisheries, and keystone species.

Before joining IMAS, Linda was a Research Fellow and ARC Research Associate at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide. Here, she investigated past Scotia Sea biodiversity using ancient DNA from sediments collected during International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 382 ‘Iceberg Alley and Subantarctic Ice and Ocean Dynamics’, and harmful algal bloom dynamics off Tasmania spanning the last 9,000 years (DP170102261 ‘Improved management of coastal plankton systems by ancient DNA technology’, lead CI Prof. G. Hallegraeff). Prior to this (2018), she held a prestigious Australian Endeavour Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to develop sea-ice proxies using marine genomics and transcriptomics with Prof. Chris Bowler at the Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Superieure (IBENS), Paris, France.

Linda completed a BSc (‘Biology of Organisms’) and MSc (‘Marine Biology’) at the Universities of Osnabrück and Bremen, respectively, in collaboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Germany. Holding an international Macquarie University Excellence Research Scholarship (iMQRES), she undertook a PhD in Biological Sciences (Phytoplankton Biology/Biological Oceanography) in Sydney, Australia.

Linda is currently the Ex-Officio Chair of the Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC) Science Committee, a steering committee member of the PAGES Working Group ‘PaleoEcoGen’, and an advisory board member of the international sedaDNA Society.


Qualifications
PhD Phytoplankton Biology/Biological Oceanography. Phytoplankton and oceanography of the Coffs Harbour region, Eastern Australia Macquarie University. Australia 2015

MSc Marine Biology Effects of nutrient limitation (N, P, Si) of the giant diatom Coscinodiscus wailesii on mucilage and Transparent Exopolymer Particle (TEP) production University of Bremen Germany 2010

BSc Biology of Organisms Spartina-invasion of a sandy shore: Sediment accretion and differential effects on associated macrobenthos University of Osnabrück Germany 2008


Professional practice
Vice-Chair (2021), Chair (2022) and Ex-Officio Chair (2023) of the Australian and New Zealand International Ocean Discovery Program Consortium (ANZIC) Science Committee
Steering committee member, PAGES Working Group ‘PaleoEcoGen’
Advisory board member, international sedaDNA Society
Member, Australian Marine Sciences Association (AMSA)

Administrative expertise
Macquarie University Marine Research Centre (MQMarine) Coordinator & Administrator, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (0.3 FTE, 2015-2017). Responsibilities: planning, reporting, finance, media management, workshops, outreach, stakeholder management.

MEDIA

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ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • ARC DECRA Fellow in Antarctic Climate Change
    University of Tasmania, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), Hobart, Australia23 Aug 2021 - present

LANGUAGES

  • German
    Can read, write, speak, understand and peer review

SCHOOL AND PORTFOLIO

  • Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

  • 13 Climate Action
  • 14 Life Below Water

FIELD OF RESEARCH