PhD Position in Multitrophic Insect Community Ecology in Grassland Ecosystems
The Animal Ecology Lab at the Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Germany, invites applications for a fixed-term PhD position (36 months, German salary grade TV-L E13 (65% of full-time, starting 1 April 2020; subject to final funding decision by the DFG).
The research will be conducted within the project entitled “SPRINT - Seed Predation and Diversity of Arthropod Communities in Response to Land-Use INTensity“, embedded in the framework of the German Biodiversity Exploratories (https://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/startseite/).
Invertebrate consumers play an important role in shaping plant community composition and ecosystem functions in grasslands, for example, by exhibiting feeding pressure on plant seeds. The SPRINT project aims to study the impact of anthropogenic land-use intensity on consumer communities, and process rates in a unique setting of observational and manipulative grassland biodiversity experiments.
Tasks: The successful applicant will (i) perform field work to study the diversity and distribution of ground- dwelling arthropod communities in response to different land-use intensity regimes, (ii) disentangle impact on seed predation of different taxa amongst the invertebrate communities using field and lab experiments and (iii) assess morphological and chemical traits driving seed predator feeding interactions using HD-microscopy, elemental analysis and other suitable methods. The tasks include an intense amount of field work (i.e. in the three regions of Schorfheide-Chorin, Hainich-Dün, Schwäbische Alb).
Requirements: Applicants should have a university degree (master’s of science or equivalent) in natural sciences with a background in ecology, biodiversity, entomology or related disciplines.
A strong interest for and experience in taxonomic work, with a focus on insect identification, is required. Ideally this includes having attended courses on taxa such as Carabidae. A high motivation for and experience in field work is expected, as is a European driving license (to access field sites). Experience conducting analytical lab work, such as C:N-elemental analysis, NIRS or ICP-OES are advantageous. Applicants should have a strong interest in working in an interdisciplinary team and must have good English communication skills. Basic German language skills are also required, as contact with local management teams, farmers and other stakeholders will be necessary. Knowledge of statistical analysis and sampling design is a further prerequisite, ideally with some experience in the open source software “R”.
Application: The University of Münster (WWU) is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the proportion of women academics. Consequently, we actively encourage applications by women. Female candidates with equivalent qualifications and academic achievements will be preferentially considered within the framework of the legal possibilities. We also welcome applications from candidates with severe disabilities. Disabled candidates with equivalent qualifications will be preferentially considered, although some restrictions due to necessary intensive field work may apply. Please submit your application via e-mail to Dr. David Ott (david.ott@uni-muenster.de) as a single PDF file named “PhD SPRINT_Surname_Name.pdf” with your cover letter, CV, Diploma-/BSc-/MSc-certificates, contact of two supervisors for further reference and other relevant attachments. Applications not in the required format will not be considered. After submission, you will receive a link to an online-form via E-mail into which additional data necessary for the application process must be entered.
Animal Ecology Lab
Contact for any questions and application submissions:
Dr. David Ott
david.ott@uni-muenster.de
Closing date for applications:
31 January 2020