Elisabeth Biersma

Terrestrial Phylogeographer

Elisabeth Biersma

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Elisabeth Biersma

Biography

Elisabeth Machteld Biersma (Elise Biersma) is an evolutionary ecologist studying plants and microbes, working within the Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation (BEA) research programme. She is currently studying the evolutionary history of Colobanthus quitensis (one of the two vascular plants in the Antarctic) and its associated root microbes in South America and Antarctica.

She recently completed her PhD at the Plant Sciences department at the University of Cambridge and at BAS, in which she investigated the evolutionary origins, spread and length of persistence of Antarctic mosses (the dominant flora in the Antarctic). Her findings so far included the first evidence for long-term (million-year) persistence of extant plants in the Antarctic.

Next to her PhD project, she has a diverse background ranging from evolutionary genetics (population genetics, phylogenetics, biogeography, meta- and transcriptomics and other NGS approaches), polar biology, terrestrial and marine ecology, with expertise ranging from birds, invertebrates to microbes and plants. She has over nine years of field experience in Antarctic, sub-Antarctic and Arctic environments, in all different polar seasons.

  • 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-equtorial migration routes, staging sites and wintering areas of a high-arctic avian predator: the long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus). PLoS One 8: e64614.

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

2018

Biersma, Elisabeth Machteld, Jackson, Jennifer A., Stech, Michael, Griffiths, Howard, Linse, Katrin, Convey, Peter. (2018) Molecular data suggest long-term in situ Antarctic persistence within Antarctica’s most speciose plant genus, Schistidium. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 6. 10.3389/fevo.2018.00077

Biersma, Elisabeth M., Jackson, Jennifer A., Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Griffiths, Howard, Linse, Katrin, Convey, Peter. (2018) Low genetic variation between South American and Antarctic populations of the bank-forming moss Chorisodontium aciphyllum (Dicranaceae). Polar Biology, 41. 599-610. 10.1007/s00300-017-2221-1

2017

Lewis, Lily R., Biersma, Elisabeth M., Carey, Sarah B., Holsinger, Kent, McDaniel, Stuart F., Rozzi, Ricardo, Goffinet, Bernard. (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. 1651-1659. 10.3732/ajb.1700144

Biersma, Elisabeth M., Jackson, Jennifer A., Hyvonen, Jaakko, Koskinen, Satu, Linse, Katrin, Griffiths, Howard, Convey, Peter. (2017) Global biogeographic patterns in bipolar moss species. Royal Society Open Science, 4. 13 pp. 10.1098/rsos.170147

Lewis, Lily R., Ickert-Bond, Steaniei M., Biersma, Elisabeth M., Convey, Peter, Goffinet, Bernard, Hassel, Kristian, Kruijer, Hans J.D., La Farge, Catherine, Metzgar, Jordan, Stech, Michael, Villareal, Juan Carlos, McDaniel, Stuart F.. (2017) Future directions and priorities for Arctic bryophyte research. Arctic Science, 3. 475-497. 10.1139/AS-2016-0043

2016

Biersma, Elisabeth Machteld. (2016) The evolutionary history of the Antarctic flora. University of Cambridge, PhD thesis

2015

Convey, Peter, Abbandonato, Holly, Bergan, Frode, Beumer, Larissa Teresa, Biersma, Elisabeth Machteld, Bråthen, Vegard Sandøy, D'Imperio, Ludovica, Jensen, Christina Kjellerup, Nilsen, Solveig, Paquin, Karolina, Stenkewitz, Ute, Svoen, Mildrid Elvik, Winkler, Judith, Müller, Eike, Coulson, Stephen James. (2015) Survival of rapidly fluctuating natural low winter temperatures by High Arctic soil invertebrates. Journal of Thermal Biology, 54. 111-117. doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2014.07.009

Dabert, Miroslawa, Coulson, Stephen J., Gwiazdowicz, Dariusz J., Moe, Børge, Hanssen, Sveinn Are, Biersma, Elisabeth M., Pilskog, Hanne E., Dabert, Jacek. (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, 65. 163-179. doi:10.1007/s10493-014-9856-1

2014

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. 1469-1477. doi:10.1007/s00300-014-1537-3

Coulson, S.J., Convey, P., Aakra, K., Aarvik, L., Ávila-Jiménez, M.L., Babenko, A., Biersma, E., Boström, S., Brittain, J.E., Carlsson, A., Christoffersen, K.S., De Smet, W.H., Ekrem, T., Fjellberg, A., Füreder, L., Gustafsson, D., Gwiazdowicz, D.J., Hansen, L.O., Hullé, M., Kaczmarek, L., 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. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2013.10.006

2013

Gilg, Olivier, Moe, Børge, Hanssen, Sveinn Are, Schmidt, Niels Martin, Sittler, Benoît, Hansen, Jannik, Reneerkens, Jeroen, Sabard, Brigitte, Chastel, Olivier, Moreau, Jérôme, Phillips, Richard A., Oudman, Thomas, Biersma, Elisabeth M., Fenstad, Anette A., Lang, Johannes, Bollache, Loïc. (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. 10 pp. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064614