The Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University invites applications for a 2-year and a 3-year postdoc positions as part of the project on "Macroecological studies of long-term historical constraints on functional diversity and ecosystem functioning across continents" (HISTFUNC, http://projects.au.dk/histfunc/). The objective of HISTFUNC is to apply macroecological analyses to provide ground-breaking assessments of large-scale drivers of functional diversity and ecosystem functioning, including effects of diversity on functioning. In particular, it assesses the novel hypothesis that ecosystem functioning is subject to long-term (10^2-10^7 year year) constraints mediated by biodiversity effects and driven by past climate change and other historical factors. The project is led by Professor Jens-Christian Svenning.
3-yr postdoc on “Integrating predictive modeling of ecosystems with biogeography” (ID 680503) The overall objective for this postdoc project is to develop and implement a novel framework for predicting spatiotemporal dynamics of vegetation-related ecosystem functioning that accounts for the constraints imposed by long-term biogeographic dynamics. The project will explore and develop a range of methodologies for predictive ecosystem modeling on a global scale, including hybrid statistical-mechanistic models that combine statistical modeling of ecosystem-environment links, biodiversity-ecosystem relations, and large-scale historical effects with dynamic simulations of future “historical” dispersal dynamics as well as certain physiological effects and trait-based dynamic vegetation models (DVGMs), modified to take biodiversity-ecosystem relations (notably functional diversity effects) and large-scale historical effects into account. 2-yr postdoc on “Macroecology of ecosystem functioning and its link to diversity”(ID 680488) The objective of this postdoc project is to make use of the increasing wealth of remote sensing data (both derived products and raw data) to develop a macroecology of ecosystem functioning and its link to diversity, notably functional diversity. The project will have a specific focus on assessing the importance of long-term historical constraints for global and regional patterns in ecosystem functioning. Applications are due September 25th. For more details and application instructions, see: http://www.au.dk/en/about/vacant-positions/scientific-positions/stillinger/Vacancy/show/680503/5283/ http://www.au.dk/en/about/vacant-positions/scientific-positions/stillinger/Vacancy/show/680488/5283/
