I am looking for a PhD student for the following project:
Why are tropical forests so biodiverse? How can so many different
tree species coexist by partitioning only soil, water, and sunlight?
Which species will go extinct when forests are reduced and fragmented?
Part of the explanation for why species can coexist in a seemingly
uniform environment is that species can partition space itself. For
example, localized dispersal results in offspring forming clumps,
which causes a species to compete more with itself than with other
species. This allows coexistence. In fact, there are multiple ways
by which species can coexist by partitioning space, and thus, there
are multiple ways by which habitat destruction leads to species loss.
The problem has been getting the data to test those ideas. It has
turned out to be remarkably difficult just to measure dispersal, never
mind using those measures to test ideas about species coexistence.
This project will bridge that gap in ecology by using population
genetic structure to develop ecological models of coexistence, which
to date have scarcely used the vast amount of data available from
molecular markers. Instead of trees, we will use a community of ants
living symbiotically with the ant-plant Cordia nodosa as our model
system, because we can take advantage of previous work to check our
results and thereby gain confidence in our conclusions.
The Ph.D. project will train the student in (1) tropical fieldwork in
Amazonian Peru, during which the student will lead an expeditionary
team, (2) molecular ecology, as the student will generate spatial
genetic datasets, and (3) model-building, during which the student
will use the datasets to parameterise spatial models of species
coexistence. The supervisor and collaborators will be involved in all
aspects of this project, so there are multiple sources of intellectual
and logistical support. Funds for field and lab work have been secured.
The applicant will compete for a NERC studentship, which covers
tuition, fees, and a living stipend for UK citizens, or tuition and
fees only for EU citizens. Applications are dealt with on a rolling
basis until the studentship has been taken up.
Please direct enquiries to my email address.
Dr. Douglas W. Yu
School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia
Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ UK, 44-(0)1603-593-835
http://www.uea.ac.uk/bio/people/YuD
http://web.mac.com/dougwyu
office hours Tues 2:00 to 4:00
Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.
- Marston Bates
