Short presentation

Research Interests

I am an evolutionary biologist at the University of Copenhagen and Natural History Museum of Denmark. My research interests focus on the origins and evolutionary history of biodiversity in polar areas, particularly plants (vascular plants, mosses) and microbial groups (fungi and bacteria). For my research I use herbarium and fresh samples in combination with a range of genetic methods, including population genetic, phylogeographic, molecular dating methods and next-generation sequencing. 

For more information see my personal website: 

https://www.elisebiersma.com

Please feel free to contact me for possible M.Sc. student research projects ([email protected]). 

The evolutionary history of the flora in Greenland:

My research at the University of Copenhagen and Natural History Museum of Denmark sets out to investigate the origin and age of the Greenlandic flora in relation to the island's past glacial history. I am particularly interested in:

• the routes and timings of floral colonisation into and within Greenland
• whether life may have survived in Greenland during the Last Glacial Maximum
• speciation processes related to polar organisms (molecular rates, polyploidy, life cycles etc)

My research is funded by a Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and a research grant from the Aage V. Jensen Foundation. 

I also work part-time at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, UK, on similar subjects related to the evolutionary history of Antarctic biota. 

Publications:

• Biersma E.M., Jackson, J.A., Stech, M., Griffiths, H., Linse, K. & Convey, P. (2018) Molecular data suggest long-term in situ Antarctic persistence within Antarctica's most speciose plant genus, Schistidium. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 6, 77.

• Biersma E.M., Jackson, J.A., Bracegirdle T.J., Griffiths, H., Linse, K. & Convey, P. (2018) Low genetic variation between South American and Antarctic populations of the bank-forming moss Chorisodontium aciphyllum (Dicranaceae). Polar Biology, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2221-1 ​
• Lewis, L.R., Biersma, E.M., Carey, S.B., Holsinger, K., McDaniel, S.F., Rozzi, R., & Goffinet, B. (2017) Resolving the northern hemisphere source region for the long-distance dispersal event that gave rise to the South American endemic dung moss Tetraplodon fuegianus. American Journal of Botany. 104(11), 1651-1659. ​
• Biersma E.M., Jackson, J.A., Hyvönen, J., Koskinen, S., Linse, K., Griffiths, H. & Convey, P. (2017) Global biogeographic patterns in bipolar moss species. Royal Society Open Science. 4: 170147. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170147
• Lewis, L.R. & Ickert-Bond, S., Biersma, E.M., Convey, P., Goffinet, B., Hassel, K., Kruijer, H., La Farge, C., Metzgar, J., Stech, M., Villarreal, J.C. & McDaniel, S.F. (2017) Future directions and priorities for Arctic bryophyte research. Arctic Science (ja).
• Dabert, M., Coulson, S.J., Gwiazdowicz, D.J., Moe, B., Hanssen, S.A., Biersma, E.M., Pilskog, H.E. & Dabert, J. (2015) Differences in speciation progress in feather mites (Analgoidea) inhabiting the same host: the case of Zachvatkinia and Alloptes living on arctic and long-tailed skuas. Experimental and Applied Acarology, 1-17.
• Pisa, S. & Biersma, E.M., Convey, P., Patiño, J., Vanderpoorten, A., Werner, O. & Ros, R.M. (2014) The cosmopolitan moss Bryum argenteum in Antarctica: recent colonisation or in situ survival? Polar Biology, 37(10), 1469-1477.
• Convey, P., Abbandonato, H., Bergan, F., Beumer, L.T., Biersma, E.M., Bråthen, V.S., D'Imperio, L., Jensen, C.K., Nilsen, S., Paquin, K., Stenkewitz, U., Svoen, M.E., Winkler, J., Müller, E. & Coulson, S.J. (2014) Survival of rapidly fluctuating natural low winter temperatures by High Arctic soil invertebrates. Journal of Thermal Biology.
• Coulson, S.J., Convey, P., Aakra, K., Aarvik, L., Ávila-Jiménez, M.L., Babenko, A., Biersma, E.M., Boström, S., Brittain, J.E., Carlsson, A.M., Christoffersen, K., De Smet, W.H., Ekrem, T., Fjellberg, A., Füreder, L., Gustafsson, D., Gwiazdowicz, D.J., Hansen, L.O., Holmstrup, M., Hullé, M., Kaczmarek, Ł., Kolicka, M., Kuklin, V., Lakka, H.K., Lebedeva, N., Makarova, O., Maraldo, K., Melekhina, E., Ødegaard, F., Pilskog, H.E., Simon, J.C., Sohlenius, B., Solhøy, T., Søli, G., Stur, E., Tanasevitch, A., Taskaeva, A., Velle, G., Zawierucha, K. & Zmudczyńska-Skarbek, K. (2014) The terrestrial and freshwater invertebrate biodiversity of the archipelagoes of the Barents Sea; Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 68, 440-470.
• Gilg, O., Moe, B., Hanssen, S.A., Schmidt, N.M., Sittler, B., Hansen, J., Reneerkens, J., Sabard, B., Chastel, O., Moreau, J., Phillips, R.A., Oudman, T., Biersma, E.M., Fenstad, A.A., Lang, J. & Bollache, L. (2013) Trans-equatorial migration routes, staging sites and wintering areas of a high-arctic avian predator: the long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus). PLoS One 8: e64614.

Address:

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Øster Farimagsgade 5, 

Building 7, 1st 7-136

DK-1353 Copenhagen 

Denmark

CV

2019–(ongoing): Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Copenhagen, Natural History Museum of Denmark (Denmark)

2016–(ongoing): Postdoc, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (UK)

2012–2017: P.h.D. University of Cambridge and British Antarctic Survey (UK)

2010–2012: M.Sc. University in Bergen (Norway), University of Aarhus (Denmark), University of Iceland (Iceland) and the University of the Faroe Islands (Faroe Islands)

2007–2010: B.Sc. University of Groningen (Netherlands) and Uppsala University (Sweden)