PhD Position in Forest Ecology (# of pos: 2)

Updated: over 2 years ago
Job Type: PartTime
Deadline: 16 Jan 2022

Forests store vast amounts of carbon, provide important ecosystem services, and support most of the terrestrial biodiversity. Around one quarter of all forest species depend on dead wood. Several factors determine local biodiversity, incl. environmental gradients, available energy, and biotic interactions. Particularly the sequential arrival of species, i.e. priority effects, to a dead resource can have a major influence on biodiversity. However, our knowledge about the complex interplay of environmental drivers and priority effects is limited. In this project we aim to close this gap of knowledge. Therefore, we seek two highly motivated PhD candidates with experience in insect and/or fungal ecology and the collection and analysis of quantitative data, who will be responsible for:

• the maintenance and administration of the experimental set-ups

• (a) gathering and processing the saproxylic beetles’ samples collected by sticky traps and rearing OR (b) conduct the laboratory part of the work ensuring the molecular identification of fungal communities and sampling and processing the volatiles extracted from deadwood substrate

• the analyses and publication of the obtained data in international peer-reviewed journals

The successful applicants will join the Laboratory of Woodland Ecology  at the Biology Centre CAS, Czech Republic, where the project is led by Dr. Simon Thorn. The position permits and supports a scientific qualification through the preparation of a doctoral thesis within the framework of the project at the University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science  in close collaboration to our German project partners.



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