RESEARCH STATEMENT For Graduate Student

Ocean is the world’s largest ecosystem and coastal waters act as a tremendous boundary between the terrestrial home and the deep sea. How extensive the food web being operated in these coastal waters is unpredictable but abrupt changes due to various factors such as fishing, invasive alien species, exposure to toxic substances and thermal expansion is posing serious effects on these coastal communities. My research interests are to study the effect of anthropogenic noises on fish’s predation and metabolic activity? How do toxic substances such as microplastics and heavy metals alter fish metabolism? How do toxins from Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) affect the metabolic activity of fishes in coastal water? In my mind, the University of Victoria, as a known research university, is an ideal place where I can outgrow my knowledge and research skill set required to investigate the effect of anthropogenic activities on marine life in coastal areas. My interest in marine and coastal studies arose during the 4th Semester of Master’s of Zoology where I presented a seminar, as part of my curriculum, on “Marine bioacoustics”. To prepare for the same, I have done extensive research on marine animals that rely on sound for predation, communication, and mating and discovered how anthropogenic noise is disturbing the normal feeding habits of these marine animals. Thus, I started researching anthropogenic noises but expanded my research to various man-made activities especially in the coastal region affecting marine life. During my Master’s of Zoology from Guru Nanak Dev University, I have been engaged in rigorous coursework and associated lab work where I learned various molecular techniques such as protein extraction, northern blots, spectrophotometry, and buffer preparations, etc and also involved in fieldwork such as insect collections, collecting water samples from various sites for studies, etc. It was a course-based Master’s but it made me learn the basic skills of a researcher and generated an interest to go further into research. After completing my Master’s, I started pursuing my teaching career. Even while I was into teaching, I loved to teach and research ecology and to let my students know about recent trends, current research topics, the problems faced by the marine world such as bioaccumulation, biomagnification, and anthropogenic activities in the marine world. Since, I still felt a strong desire to fulfill my research career, learning about problems faced by marine biota and reading more about research articles reaffirmed my desire, so I wanted to pursue my Thesis- based Master’s further. I firmly believe this course would let me gain the desired skill set and would prepare me to apply for a Ph. D. after that. After researching a lot, UVic seems like a perfect place where the Biology department is actively engaged in fieldwork in the Pacific ocean. I believe working in your Foodweb Ecology lab is an opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge and to gain more research experience, so I'm looking forward to grasping an opportunity in your lab. My extensive coursework helped me to develop a unique skill set that comprises aquatic biology concepts, modern molecular techniques, ecology, and animal behavior which I can use to investigate how anthropogenic activities are severely altering the marine biota. I want to mainly study the soundscape ecology and effect of microplastics or nano plastics and Harmful Algal Blooms on coastal marine biota. My decision to apply for Thesis based Master's at UVic is the beginning of my road to a Ph. D. My long-term goals are to become an independent researcher that would also enable me to lead a group of aspiring enthusiasts. I affirm that this opportunity would successfully fulfill my long-term career goals. I hope you will give my application sincere consideration.