Post-doc position in Evolutionary Ecology/Community Ecology/Theoretical Ecology
“Adaptation and Resilience of Spatial Ecological Networks to human-induced
changes”
Anthropogenic environmental changes increasingly threaten biodiversity and
ecosystem services, thus kindling a societal demand for predictions that
ecology as a science has yet to answer. Available models are poorly suited to
predicting the ecological effects of such changes because they ignore variation
in species’ niche due to ecological interactions and evolution. Without
understanding the functioning of ecological networks and how they are shaped by
evolution, it is indeed difficult to predict how changes of the environment
will cascade through ecosystems and make species traits evolve. Understanding
the dynamics of ecological networks is a dual goal, both for fundamental
research and for building informed programs on sustainable ecosystem services
and species conservation. Accounting for species interactions and evolution to
understand the consequences of global changes is the critical question we want
to tackle through the post doc we propose here.
In this context, the post-doctoral fellow will develop models linking the
coevolution of traits to the structure of ecological networks (both trophic and
mutualistic networks). Such models will especially account for spatial aspects,
i.e. heterogeneous landscapes and dispersal of individuals among habitat
patches, and will focus on the structure of ecological communities emerging
from evolutionary processes acting at the landscape scale. Modelling will be
based on adaptive dynamics and/or theoretical quantitative genetics methods.
Application Process
This job is supported by a larger ANR project ARSENIC (2015-2019) involving a
network of 8 different labs, most of them in France. More precisely, this
position will involve collaborations between the Ecology, Evolution &
Paleontology lab in Lille and of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental
Sciences in Paris.
The post-doctoral fellow will work at IEES Paris (Institute of Ecology and
Environmental Sciences of Paris). IEES is a new laboratory that merges
different aspects of ecology, such as evolutionary ecology, community ecology
and functional ecology. The post-doc fellow would be part of the team “Ecology
and Evolution of Interaction Networks” (team leader: Nicolas Loeuille).
The post-doctoral position will particularly focus on the theoretical
developments proposed above. We welcome applications from candidates with a PhD
in ecology, evolutionary biology or applied mathematics, with good skills in
ecological modelling, theoretical ecology and evolutionary ecology. Skills in
game theory, adaptive dynamics or quantitative genetics modelling will be
particularly appreciated.
The position is funded for two years. Salary depends on experience (eg, about
2200€ two years after PhD). Applications will be considered until the position
is filled.
To apply, send a CV and a letter expressing why the project interests you to
Nicolas Loeuille ([email protected]) and François Massol
([email protected]), and have two researchers you collaborated
with send us reference letters.
