A position for a MS or PhD student is available on a new 3-year project funded by the Department of Energys National Institute for Climate Change Research. The project will measure and quantify the effects of insect outbreaks on carbon storage in lodgepole pine forests in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem under multiple climate change scenarios. Data collection will occur mostly in the field; the student will measure carbon stocks in forests along an established chronosequence of stands across the Yellowstone landscape. The project also includes a modeling component that will investigate potential feedbacks between insects, carbon storage, and climate change. Students should be resourceful, independent, and motivated to undergo an intensive, complex field-based project in a wilderness area. A strong background and academic record in terrestrial ecology, forest ecosystem dynamics, soil ecology, or natural resources is desired; field research experience is essential. Experience with forest ecosystem ecology and landscape-scale research would be a definite asset.
The student must be accepted into the graduate program of the Department of Biological Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Our lab has a broad emphasis on the importance of disturbances for shaping the structure and function of forest ecosystems and landscapes, and is part of a growing ecology contingent within the department. Funding begins in Spring 2008; ideally, the student will begin field research (with full support) in June 2008 before beginning their degree program at Wayne State in Fall 2008. Interested applicants should contact Dr. Dan Kashian at (313) 577-9093 or by email ([EMAIL PROTECTED]).
