Dr Manisha Shakya is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Aquatic Ecology at the School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England. She completed a PhD degree in freshwater ecology and ecotoxicology. In her current role, she studies the base of aquatic food webs in the northern Murray Darling Basin, examining sources and the quantity and quality of carbon available to aquatic biota and how environmental water can be used to protect or improve aquatic ecosystems. She also collaborates with researchers from the Pollution Science Research Group at the University of New England to investigate the impacts of pollutants on the biomolecular composition of aquatic organisms, including proteins, amino acids and fatty acids, to understand how pollutants can alter the nutritional landscape in aquatic food webs.