Fully funded PhD position: Understanding impacts of mountain greening on hydrology from a plant...

The Department of Physical Geography (Faculty of Geosciences) is searching for a PhD candidate as part of the project ‘Understanding the impacts of mountain greening on hydrology from a plant traits and ecological perspective’. This interdisciplinary project combines knowledge and approaches from mountain hydrology and (palaeo)ecology. Are you interested in the interaction between mountains, climate, water and plants? Do you like working both in the field and with computer models? Do you have an interest in developing into a scientific researcher? Then this might be the job for you.
The loss of glaciers and snowpacks in mountain regions due to climate change has strong impacts on local and downstream water supply. With ice and snow vanishing from mountains, vegetation increasingly comes into play, revealed by widespread ‘greening’ of mountain slopes over recent decades. More vegetation can increase evapotranspiration, infiltration and water retention, potentially reducing streamflow in the future with serious consequences for downstream water availability.
However, while we know that mountains are greening around the world, it is difficult to tell how greening will affect the mountain water supply exactly. How vegetation affects hydrological processes depends various factors, including its biomass, structure and functional traits of plant species. In addition, mountain greening can be caused by different ecological processes, such densification of existing vegetation, but also changes in species composition. Hence, to understand how widespread greening will affect mountain hydrology, we need to understand the role of different plant species, plant traits and ecological greening mechanisms.

What will you be doing?
You will use a trait-based eco-hydrological approach to quantify the impact of different mountain species, seasonal/annual greening variations and greening mechanisms on mountain hydrology. For this, you will conduct detailed hydrological and ecological field studies in a small mountain catchment in the Swiss Alps. During fieldwork, you will measure plant traits, soil properties and hydrological properties over multiple years, and you will conduct regular drone flights to monitor catchment-scale vegetation patterns. Subsequently, you will assess effects of different mountain plant types and greening processes on hydrological processes using a physically-based ecohydrological model at both plot and catchment scale.

You will work closely together with your supervisors, other researchers from the department and international collaborators. Also, as a PhD candidate at Utrecht University you will follow courses and attend congresses as part of your own academic and personal development. You will also assist in teaching courses at bachelor's and master's level at our faculty. Both activities amount to approximately 10% of the contracted time.