PhD Plant diversity changes on the Tibetan Plateau

We are looking foor a PhD student (m/f/d) that is enthusiastic about timely scientific questions about land surface processes and their consequences on biodiversity and ecosystem services, starting as soon as possible.

The position is part of the
DFG funded project “Plant diversity changes at the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the last 21 ka and its drivers”. The focus are vegetation dynamics and involved processes on long time scales. Therefore, the main tasks lay in the interface of data analyses and model development.

The preservation of the unique Tibetan plant diversity requires an understanding of its drivers. Climate, natural disturbances and land use, the potential diversity drivers are spatially highly correlated. Thus, their specific effects on plant alpha diversity and their interactions can hardly be separated applying a modern ecological approach that targets spatial gradients. Accordingly, we propose to perform a palaeoecological study focusing on the Late Glacial and Holocene plant alpha diversity change. Our study will make use of proxy information gained from the analyses of lake sediments. Collected new palaeoenvironmental data at key sites (located along altitudinal transect at the southeastern Tibetan Plateau margin) will be combined with a palaeoenvironmental data synthesis from the eastern Tibetan Plateau and surrounding area (25-40°N, 90-105°E). At key sites, pollen and sedimentary ancient DNA (plant metabarcoding) will be investigated as proxies for past pattern in plant alpha diversity and vegetation type. Natural disturbances and land use will be inferred from a multi-proxy approach including the analyses of proxies for fire, soil erosion, and land use. Finally, the you will develop a novel modelling approach for data analyses and to provide biodiversity projections.

Tasks

• Processing and analyzing available data sets
• Analyse the relationship between plant-alpha diversity indices, vegetation type and habitat structure with climate, disturbances and land use
• Development of a new statistical model to predict plant species diversity, based on the understanding of key drivers, disturbances land use and interrelation
• Forcing simulations with the models using climate scenarios for the 21st century to predict the vegetation dynamics.
• Project future diversity losses based on land use and climate scenarios.
• A doctoral degree with suitable publication activity as well as the presentation of the achieved results at international conferences are supported and expected.

Requirements

• Master’s degree or equivalent degree in bio- or geosciences (Biology, Geoecology, (Geo)Physics) or related disciplines.
• Good knowledge of data processing and programming (C ++, R or similar languages) is required.
• Advanced English skills (written and spoken) are a prerequisite.
• In general, we expect good skills in communication and writing and a high capacity for teamwork.

Beneficial experience

• Experiences in (geo)statistics and molecular biology
• Previous knowledge in field work and permafrost land surface dynamics and permafrost

Further Information

For further information please contact
Dr. Stefan Kruse
(Stefan.Kruse@awi.de
+49(331)288-2218).
The position is limited to 3 years. The salary will be paid in accordance with the German Tarifvertrag des öffentlichen Dienstes (TVöD Bund), up to salary level

13 (66%)
The place of employment will be
Potsdam.
As Ph.D. student at AWI you will be member of the Helmholtz Graduate School for Polar and Marine Research ‘POLMAR’ (
) or another graduate school.

This characterizes us

• our scientific success - excellent research.
• collaboration and cooperation - intra-institute, national and international, interdisciplinary.
• opportunities to develop – on the job, aiming at other positions and beyond AWI.
• a culture of reconciling work and family – audited, and even more than that.
• our outstanding research infrastructure – ships, stations, aircraft, laboratories and more.
• an international environment – everyday contacts with people from all over the world.
• having an influence – fundamental research with social and political relevance
• flat hierarchies – freedom and responsibility.
• exciting topics – also in technology, administration and infrastructure.

Equal opportunities for women and men are an integral part of our personnel policy. Therefore, we encourage women to apply.
Disabled applicants will be given preference when equal qualifications are present. The AWI fosters the compatibility of work and family through various means. Because of our engagement in the area of work-life compatibility we have been awarded the certificate “Career and Family”.

mehr...

zur Vakanz

Weitere Jobs von Alfred-Wegener