Michiel Jorissen
Former PhD student
Bachelor in Biology, UHasselt
Master in Biology, KULeuven
Joined the group in September 2015
Research project: Tracing parasite transfer between invasive Nile tilapia and native cichlids in Central Africa after anthropogenic introductions.
The Nile tilapia was introduced into the Congo Basin for aquaculture purposes and has become a part of the local ecosystem. Our research plan involves three expeditions to the three major parts (Lower, Middle and Upper Congo) of the basin to investigate the present-day parasite fauna of introduced Nile tilapia and native fish. Additionally, we are using the museum collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), Tervuren, Belgium to reconstruct the historical parasite fauna of the native fish. Fish from the same species, localities and from before Nile tilapia was present in the area were selected. The exceptionally extensive museum collection allows this, is imperative for our research and functions as our window into the past. We are currently summarizing the data from all field expeditions and the museum collection with statistics and are working on parasite genetics.
My favorite quote: “So long and thanks for all the fish.”