[ES_JOBS_NET] Postdoc position in ecosystem disturbance modeling, UC Davis and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

[Derek Young]

The University of California, Davis and Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory are recruiting a postdoc to join a newly funded collaboration
between UCD and LBNL that aims to use ecosystem modeling to understand (a)
the resilience of California’s forests to climate change and increasing
wildfire severity and extent and (b) the controls on forest ecosystem
resilience. The project will examine how modeling the dynamics of fuel
loading and fuel management (fuel reduction treatments, including
prescribed fire and mechanical thinning) can influence projections of fire
behavior, fuel-drought-climate interactions, and wildfire severity under
future climate change scenarios. The project specifically asks how drought,
wildfire, and forest management will interact to affect forest structure
and species composition, susceptibility to short-interval reburns,
post-disturbance recovery rates, fuel loading, and carbon emissions in CA
forest ecosystems. In collaboration with the project team, the postdoc will
use extensive empirical plot data, along with other environmental data
sources, to parameterize an ecologically detailed, mechanistic modeling
platform to represent coupled vegetation and hydrological dynamics in CA’s
major ecosystems. The postdoc will use this model to project future
vegetation under alternative management and climate change scenarios. The
modeling effort will support scenario analysis and decision-making for
critical state issues including carbon budgeting, fire risk, and fuel
management.

What You Will Do:
● Apply and test the FATES-SPITFIRE model via plot-level and regional
simulations across California.
● Test model sensitivity to uncertainty in wildfire processes, plant
traits, climate, disturbance history, drought conditions, and land/fuel
management.
● Synthesize existing vegetation datasets for model use (identified and/or
provided by the project team) for incorporation into the model
parameterization and benchmarking workflow.
● Identify model needs and gaps to determine additional plot data
collection priorities.
● Explore coupled changes in vegetation structure and fire behavior under
alternate climate and management scenarios for both the historical and
future periods.
● Perform model parameterization, validation, and benchmarking.
● Prepare and submit publications to peer-reviewed journals.
● Share results in group meetings, seminars, scientific meetings, etc.

What is Required:
● Ph.D. in relevant field (e.g., fire ecology, climate science, ecology,
ecosystem science, forestry, hydrology, dynamic vegetation modeling).
● Ability to understand and use state-of-the-art land-surface and
vegetation demography models.
● Proficient coding skills in, at a minimum, data analysis languages
(Python, R, matlab, etc.), and ideally experience with compiled languages
such as Fortran.
● Understanding of and interest in wildfire, post-disturbance recovery,
carbon dynamics, and ecological science concepts.
● Experience with organization and analysis of both observational and
model-derived datasets, including historical and future climatological
datasets that drive the FATES model.
● Familiarity with statistical analyses of fire behavior and forest
impacts, forest census and other vegetation data, and hydrological data.
● Evidence of ability to publish research results in peer-reviewed journals.
● Ability and desire to work within an integrated, multi-institution team
whose activities span from field research to Earth system model development.

Desired Qualifications:
● Experience working with one of the following class of models: land
surface models, terrestrial biosphere models, individual-based/gap models,
hydrological models, ecosystem models, vegetation demographic models.
● Prior research on wildfire.

The postdoc will work very closely with forest disturbance ecologists at UC
Davis, ecosystem modelers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the
broader FATES modeling community.

Apply here: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF04560

For full consideration, please apply by February 12, 2022. This is an
initial one year position, with the strong possibility of extension
depending on successful completion of tasks and additional funding.

The postdoc will be jointly supervised by Dr. Andrew Latimer (UC Davis) and
Dr. Jennifer Holm (LBNL).
Lab: https://latimer.ucdavis.edu/
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