Dr. Dandan Shen

Microbes in marine-freshwater transitions

Research Overview

Microbial composition varies over space and time. Yet, the question remains whether or not such heterogeneity in microbial composition matters to the ecosystem functions and the magnitude of the effects. Broadly, my research interests focus on the links between microbial biodiversity and ecosystem functions across environmental gradients or under adaptation scenarios. Specific focus is partly related to carbon acquisition by Baltic Sea bacterioplankton (e.g. cellulose degradation). In the perspective of microbial adaptation, my aim is to investigate the compositional changes and metabolic traits of indigenous brackish microbes and its freshwater and marine counterparts. To provide mechanistic understanding of microbial diversity, distribution, and their key functional traits, I integrate eco-physiological techniques with contemporary molecular tools, such as stable isotope probing, MAR-FISH, next generation sequencing, and meta-transcriptomics.

Curriculum Vitae

2018 - Present Postdoctoral researcher at the Microbial Ecology group of Prof. Klaus Jürgens, IOW.

2014 - 2018   Doctoral research position (MicroFun project) under supervision of Prof. Klaus Jürgens, Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), Germany. Pass with great distinction.

2013  Research Assistant under supervision of Dr. Richard Svanbäck, Uppsala University, Sweden

2010-2012  MSc in Aquatic Ecology, Linnaeus University and Uppsala University, Sweden, under supervision of Prof. Stefan Bertilsson. Pass with excellence.

2005-2009  BSc in Marine Science, Hebei University and Peking Univeristy, China              

Posters and Talks

• Shen, D. Beier, S., Werner, J., Jürgens, K.: Metatranscriptomics reveals metabolic plasticity of bacteria crossing marine-freshwater boundaries in microbial microcosms, Talk at 16th Symposium on Aquatic Microbial Ecology (SAME 16) 2019, Postdam, Germany., awarded by FEMS Young Scientist Meeting Grant.
  

• Shen, D. Metatranscriptomics reveals metabolic plasticity of bacteria crossing marine-freshwater boundaries in microbial microcosms, Poster presentation at 'EMBO Practical Course: Microbial Metagenomics: A 360° Approach', 2019, Heidelberg, Germany., awarded by VAAM Young Scientist Meeting Grant.
  

• Shen, D., Beier, S., Jürgens, K.: Metatranscriptomic analysis of aquatic bacterioplankton in response to marine-oligohaline transitions in transplant microcosms, Poster presentation at 17th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME 17) 2018, Leipzig, Germany.
  

• Shen, D., Jürgens, K.: Experimental insights into composition, community assembly and functional traits, Talk at IOW Scientific advisory board 2018, Warnemünde, Germany.

• Shen, D., Langenheder, S., Jürgens, K.: Effects of dispersal on diversity and composition of bacterioplankton following a salinity change, Poster presentation at 15th Symposium on Aquatic Microbial Ecology (SAME 15) 2017, Zagreb, Croatia; awarded by FEMS Young Scientist Meeting Grant.
  

• Shen, D., Beier, S., Jürgens, K.: Differential bacterial dynamics and transcriptional responses promote community robustness to changed salinity, Poster presentation at 16th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME 16) 2016, Montreal, Canada.

• Shen, D., Beier, S., Jürgens, K.: Bacterial responses to different salinities in a transplant experiment, Poster presentation at IOW Scientific advisory board 2016, Warnemünde, Germany.

• Shen, D., Beier, S., Jürgens, K.: Salinity adaptations of freshwater, brackish and marine bacterial communities of the Baltic Sea: results from a transplant experiment, Talk at Aquatic Science meeting (ASLO) 2015, Granada, Spain.

• Shen, D., Beier, S., Jürgens, K.: Salinity adaptations of freshwater, brackish and marine bacterial communities of the Baltic Sea, Poster presentation at CEMEB workshop - Marine Evolution under Climate Change 2014, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Publications and Manuscripts

• Beier, S., Shen, D., Schott, T., Jürgens, K. (2017). Metatranscriptome data reveal the effect of different community properties on multifunctional redundancy. Mol. Ecol. 26: 6813-6826. DOI: 10.1111/mec.14409

• Shen, D., Jürgens, K., Beier, S. (2018). Experimental insights into the importance of ecologically dissimilar bacteria to community assembly along a salinity gradient. Environ. Microbiol. 20: 1170-1184. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14059
  

• Shen, D. (2018) Dissertation "Aquatic bacterioplankton communities along salinity gradients: insights into composition, community assembly and functional tratis" . Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) and University of Rostock: https://doi.org/10.18453/rosdok_id00002293
  

• Shen, D., Langenheder, S., Jürgens, K. (2018). Dispersal modifies the diversity and composition of active bacterial communities in response to a salinity disturbance. Front. Microbiol. 9: 2188. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02188
  

• Yang, Q., Dong, J., Ahmad M., Ling, J., Zhou, W., Tan, Y., Zhang, Y., Shen, D., Zhang, Y. (2019) Analysis of nifH DNA and RNA reveals a disproportionate contribution to nitrogenase activities by rare plankton-associated diazotrophs. BMC Microbiol. 19: 188. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-019-1565-9
  

• Shen, D., Höger, A., Jürgens, K. Abundance-occupancy relationships along taxononic ranks reveal a consitency of niche differentation in bacterioplankton with distinct lifestyles. (Ready to submit)

• Shen, D., Beier S., Werner, J., Jürgens, K. Metatranscriptomics reveals metabolic plasticity of bacteria crossing marine-freshwater boundaries in microbial microcosms. (In preparation)
  

Teaching Experience

6/2018 - 11/2018 Supervision on master thesis of Hendrik Langeloh, Thesis entitled “The impact of salinity changes to microbial and planktonic communities in the warnow river”.

6/2018 Practical section in the course Microbial Ecology at the master level in Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) and University of Rostock.

4/2016 – 10/2016  Supervision on master thesis of Anna-Lena Höger, Thesis entitled “Examining the ecological coherence of particle-attached and free-living bacteria in the St. Lawrence Estuary”.

11/2015   Practical section in Marine Biology course at master level in Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) and University of Rostock.

11/2014  Practical section in Marine Biology course at master level in Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) and University of Rostock.