SHORT ABSTRACT

During his PhD studies, Thomas Bygh Nymann Jensen researched the environmental microbiomes of Denmark with the aim of generating a reference catalogue for Danish microbes. These microbes form intricate communities which composition is determined by both environment and symbiotic interactions with other organisms. Thomas Bygh Nymann Jensen studied how one can apply miniaturisation strategies to perform cost-effective microbial surveys. His work also demonstrates how the above-ground and below-ground communities respond in a similar manner to the major ecological gradients found in the temperate terrestrial ecosystems of Denmark.

The new research findings contribute to the understanding of how different ecosystems respond to anthropogenic activity and provide a census of Denmark’s free-living environmental microbial communities, and the baseline of a nation’s microbial diversity.

ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

• Associate Professor Mette Haubjerg Nicolaisen, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Professor David Berry, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, University of Vienna, Austria
• Professor Torsten Nygaard Kristensen (chair), Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Denmark

Supervisor: Mads Albertsen
Co-supervisor: Per H. Nielsen