Hej! I’m Karla Münzner, a new postdoc in Karin Rengefors’ research group. I’m an aquatic ecologist and I study harmful algal blooms – slimy blooms, toxic blooms, ideally blooms that are both! I want to find out what causes harmful algal blooms, what makes them toxic, and how they affect other parts of aquatic ecosystems, like biogeochemical cycles. During my time at Lund University, I will focus on toxic cyanobacteria blooms (specifically Microcystis) in Vombsjön (close to Lund), in collaboration with Christian Alsterberg at Sydvatten AB. Our goal is to figure out which environmental conditions select for toxic Microcystis strains, and use that knowledge to develop tools for early warning systems that can be used to manage drinking water resources.
After a master’s in aquatic ecology at Lund University, I did my PhD at Uppsala University in Sweden. I studied the harmful alga Gonyostomum semen, better known as “gubbslem” in Swedish, which forms slimy algae blooms in many brown water lakes in Sweden and other countries. My work focused on why this alga grows so much in brown water lakes (it needs high amounts of iron to grow) and how it affects carbon cycling in those lakes, specifically carbon (it can turn lakes from carbon sources to carbon sinks for a short time).
After my PhD, I worked at IGB Berlin as a postdoc for two years and investigated what causes toxicity in the harmful alga Prymnesium parvum, after a bloom of this alga killed thousands of fish in the Oder River in Germany/Poland in 2022.
I’m happy to be back in Sweden, and I look forward to hiking around Skåne, enjoying fika and visiting many lakes and other aquatic ecosystems (both for work and fun). I also enjoy racket sports (badminton, paddel, table tennis), so let me know if you ever want to play! Other than that, I’ll likely read a lot of books (preferably fantasy and historical novels) and try new fika recipes.
