Dr. JOHAN HOLLANDER
Professor (Nippon Foundation Chair)
Professor Johan Hollander is a marine biologist currently serving as a professor in Sustainable Marine Management and Ocean Governance at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden. He holds the Nippon Foundation Chair and is the Director of the PhD Program at WMU. Before joining WMU in 2019, Professor Hollander was affiliated with Lund University.
His research focuses on two main areas. The first examines how different marine organisms and trophic levels respond to climate change stressors such as ocean acidification and ocean warming. The research group primarily uses statistical methods, such as meta-analysis to study these responses.
The second research area centres on habitat restoration and nature-based solutions. This research focus particularly on seagrass meadows, as a strategy to combat climate change. The team investigates how these meadows contribute to biodiversity, carbon sequestration (blue carbon), and overall ecosystem services. They study the impact of seagrass restoration on mitigating coastal erosion and enhancing ecosystem services in Sweden and the Western Indian Ocean. This work aims to leverage green infrastructure to improve ecosystem-based adaptations and provide sustainable solutions for coastal management.
Post-docs
Dr. Björn Almström
I am a coastal researcher at the Department of Water Resource Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University. My research focuses on nature-based solutions (NbS) to mitigate coastal erosion and flooding. I want to understand the hydrodynamic and morphological processes of NbS in the coastal environment. A better understanding of these processes will facilitate a widespread implementation of NbS, thereby contributing to a more sustainable coastal landscape that promotes biodiversity and ecosystem services while preserving societal functions.
Dr. Nan Hu
There is widespread consensus among climate scientists today that global climate change is real and has anthropogenic roots. Marine species for example, are exposed to a large array of stressors, such as warming and ocean acidification, that are linked directly to anthropogenic climate change. The general view on whether natural populations can adapt to anthropogenic change is that many species will fail acclimatize to rapid climate change effects.
An understanding of how species respond to changes associated with climate change is unfortunately not fully understood. My project study phenotypic plasticity to further understand organisms ability or limitations to adjust to anthropogenic stress.
PhD students
Gina Kum
Towards a sustainable blue economy: Investigating microplastic pollution from marine coatings in the shipping industry
Plastics pose a significant threat to the global marine environment, emerging as a major form of anthropogenic pollution. Over the past two decades, research on microplastics has surged, but there are still gaps in scientific knowledge due to the distinct characteristics of microplastics. Compounding the issue is the absence of a standardized definition for microplastics, which has led to marine coatings or paint being largely overlooked and excluded from microplastic literature and scientific research until recently. This can be attributed to the lack of consensus on whether paint particles should be classified as microplastics. Another contributing factor to the limited understanding of marine coatings used on merchant vessels is the scarcity of studies in this area. Consequently, there is a significant knowledge gap concerning ship paint as a potential source of marine microplastics. In addition, marine coatings contain a considerable proportion of additives, such as metals and biocides, as compared to plastics. This chemical toxicity raises concerns about the heightened threat they pose to the marine environment compared to land-based plastics, a concern that cannot be ignored. The thesis aims to enhance understanding of the release of microplastics from marine coatings and promote the development of sustainable practices in the shipping industry. By addressing these objectives, the research seeks to minimize the environmental impact of marine coatings and contribute to the preservation of the marine ecosystem.
Annukka Pekkarinen
Environmental characteristics off the southern coast of Sri Lanka make this area a favorable habitat for cetaceans. The area is suitable for reproduction and feeding of whales, particular the pygmy blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda). The area is however characterised by intense international shipping traffic, and the number of collisions between ships and whales has been estimated to be 20 strikes annually. This conservation project, in the realm of Blue Economy, combines acoustic monitoring together with environmental parameters to provide information about the seasonal presence of pygmy blue whales in the area, in the context of shipping routes.