Home » SWEDISH UNIVERSITIES ENGAGED IN SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH 2015 » Uppsala University, 2015 » Department of Limnology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Uppsala University, 2015

Department of Limnology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Uppsala University, 2015

Address: Evolutionary Biology Centre, EBC, Norbyvägen 18 D, SE-752 36 Uppsala
Web page: http://www.ebc.uu.se/Research/IEG/limno/?languageId=1

Limnology is the discipline within ecology, focusing on inland aquatic ecosystems, including communities, populations, and biogeochemical processes. Microorganisms as well as larger organisms are studied. The issues addressed are of significance for the understanding of aquatic ecosystems, but they also have general ecological or evolutionary implications. Limnology encompasses basic scientific problems as well as research of interest for the protection of the environment.

South Asia related research

Dr. Preetam Choudhary is employed at Uppsala University as a post-doc researcher for 2 years from 2012, working on a project entitled ”Natural halogenation and the recalcitrance of organic matter in lake sediments”.
Abstract: Chlorine is a very common substance in nature and important for all types of life. Chloride is the most common form of chlorine in nature, but it does also exist in the form of e.g. chlorine gas, perchloric acid and organic chlorine. Organic chlorine in nature has for long been considered as something toxic spread by humans and it is often associated with pollutants like DDT and PCB. Recent studies have shown that organic chlorine can also form in nature without any contribution by humans, like for example in soil where high amounts of organic chlorine have been found. Organic chlorine in other environments, like for example in sediments, has not yet been examined in detail. One of the advantages with examining sediments is that you get information about organic chlorine over a longer time period then just ten or so years.
The purpose with this study is therefore to examine the amount of organic chlorine in lake sediments formed during the last glacial period, and then also examine the possible relations between organic chlorine and other geochemical variables, like total carbon (TOC), total chlorine (TX) and climate. 

Dr. Choudhary defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Characterisation of organic matter in sediments of Kumaun Himalayas” at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in 2008. Before that she had a Swedish connection, spending time as a PhD candidate at the Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University, where she was supervised by Dr. Joyanto Routh, working with him on a project on Kumaun Lake. More information about this project.

Later, Preetam has also been connected to Lund University’s Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, as an Erasmus Mundus Action 2 scholarship holder during 2009-10. More information.