[ES_JOBS_NET] Post-doc: Modelling Amazonian tree mortality, U. Leeds, UK

[Erika Marín-Spiotta]

Date:    Tue, 14 Jun 2016 12:41:19 -0500
From:    Sarah Batterman <sabatterman at GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
Subject: Post-doc: Modelling Amazonian tree mortality, U. Leeds, UK

--001a1140220e9b9f4905354085b2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research associate in the
Ecology and Global Change Group within the School of Geography at
University of Leeds, UK. The position will focus on the mechanisms and
consequences of increasing tree mortality across Amazonian forests. The
position will involve analysis of long-term Amazonian forest plot data to
evaluate empirical support for potential mechanisms behind increased tree
mortality observations as well as improving the representation of mortality
processes in an individual-based forest model.

Further details are pasted below, and a full description of the post can be
found here:  https://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=3DENVGE1030


***

Mortality rates of Amazonian forest trees have risen markedly over recent
decades, with potentially profound implications for the South American and
global carbon cycles.  However, the mechanistic basis of increasing tree
mortality patterns is poorly resolved, limiting our ability to make
informed projections of the impacts of global environmental change on
tropical forests.

We are seeking a Researcher to work on the Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC) funded TREMOR (Mechanisms and consequences of increasing
TREe MORtality in Amazonian rainforests) project to 1) evaluate the
importance of different drivers in contributing to observations of
increased Amazonian tree mortality and 2) improve the representation of
Amazonian tree mortality processes in vegetation models.

Your work will involve both data analysis and modelling components. The
data analysis component will focus on using long-term Amazonian forest plot
data, spanning over 30 years of tree dynamics, to evaluate evidence
supporting a number of potential mechanisms behind the observed increases
in tree mortality, including the role of drought, lianas and storm damage.
The modelling component will focus on improving the representation of tree
mortality processes in an individual-based forest model; trait-based forest
simulator (TFS), specifically developed for the simulation of Amazonian
forest plots.  There will also be scope for using dynamic global vegetation
models to evaluate the large-scale impacts of increasing tree mortality on
Amazonian forest carbon storage.

You will hold a PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g. ecology, biology,
mathematics) by the start of the appointment/project and have excellent
quantitative skills with an interest in important ecological and climate
change questions. You should have previous vegetation modelling experience,
preferably in the simulation of forest demographic processes. You should
also be competent with scientific programming (preferably Java) and have
previous experience with analysing large ecological datasets. You will have
a strong interest in tropical forest ecology and biogeochemistry.

You will be based in the Ecology and Global Change (EGC) research cluster
in the School of Geography, University of Leeds.  EGC has a long history of
high-impact work in tropical ecosystems and you will join a
multidisciplinary team of researchers interested in better understanding
the dynamics of tropical forest ecosystems and their sensitivity to
environmental change processes.  You will work directly with Dr. David
Galbraith, Prof. Emanuel Gloor, Prof. Oliver Phillips and Dr. Roel Brienen.

The University of Leeds=E2=80=99 commitment to women in science has been re=
cognised
with a national accolade. The University has received the Athena SWAN
Bronze Award and the Faculty of Environment holds the Athena SWAN Bronze
Award in recognition of our success in recruiting, retaining and
developing/promoting women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET). We
are proud of our commitment to equality and inclusiveness.

The University also offers family friendly policies including generous
maternity and paternity leave; full details of the policies can be found
here http://hr.leeds.ac.uk/homepage/4/policies.

General enquiries may be made to the Geography HR team email
geojobs at leeds.ac.uk, tel +44 (0)113 343 0203

Specific role related enquiries may be made to Dr. David Galbraith, tel +44
(0)113 343 2730, email d.r.galbraith at leeds.ac.uk

Click here for further information about working at the University of Leeds
www.leeds.ac.uk/info/20025/university_jobs
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.ucar.edu/pipermail/es_jobs_net/attachments/20160614/f98de87b/attachment.html