Peter Thor

I am a marine ecologist and biological oceanographer with expertise in the functioning of planktonic ecosystems and their responses to environmental change. My research focuses on the physiological processes that govern the transfer of energy in the planktonic food web. By examining organisms ranging from unicellular protists (< 20 µm) to copepods (0.2-2 mm), my work provides fundamental insight into the energy flow through the whole size range of the zooplankton.

A central theme in my research is the impact of global change stressors—such as warming, ocean acidification, and eutrophication—on zooplankton physiology and performance. I have combined controlled laboratory experiments with field studies to assess how these stressors alter feeding, assimilation, and growth, and how such changes cascade through the planktonic food web. My studies have contributed to a mechanistic understanding of changes in the plankton community can influence the productivity at higher food web levels such as fish.

I have been active in compiling and analysing monitoring data to evaluate long-term trends in plankton communities, partly through my work in ICES WGZE and WGINOSE. I have contributed to the Swedish national marine monitoring programme, producing assessments of hydrography, nutrients, and plankton as part of national and EU-level environmental reporting.

I am also involved in the development of ecosystem-based marine management mainly through the establishment of the pilot area for EBMM on the Swedish west coast, 8+fjordar. This work entails a wide range of tasks connected to EBMM, from supplying local authorities with knowledge on the ecology of coastal and estuarine environments to scientific support for the authorities' environmental mitigation projects. Integrated in this work is also communication with stakeholders and development of stakeholder driven management initiatives.