PhD Scholarship in Riverscape Food Webs - University of Canterbury (New Zealand)
The Freshwater Ecology Research Group (FERG, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury) has a fully-funded PhD studentship available to investigate flow-related influences on riverscape-scale stream food webs. This is a chance for a high-calibre student to join a successful research team investigating important issues and the fundamental processes which affect them to find solutions for freshwater management. Flow alteration can deleteriously affect stream food webs, but the extent of influence is likely to be heavily dependent on the riverscape context. That riverscape context, which is largely driven by stream flow, includes the local flooding and habitat drying disturbance regime, the overall size of the habitat, and associated influences on the productivity of the ecosystem. The aim of this PhD research will be to investigate those flow-related riverscape influences on stream food webs. Using stable isotopes combined with community size-spectra from both new and existing datasets to characterise stream food webs, it is expected the research will reveal how riverscape gradients affect food-web architecture, where along riverscape gradients key tipping points occur, and what limits might be applied to protect the key functional properties of food webs. The work also concerns fundamental issues affecting food webs associated with the paradox of enrichment, the length of food chains, the effects of disturbances, the role of trophic bottlenecks, and ultimately the empirical stability of food webs. See the FERG website for recent publications which provide more context. The research involves working with Professor Angus McIntosh, and Dr Phillip Jellyman (at NIWA Christchurch), and is funded by NIWA’s Sustainable Water Allocation Programme. The research needs to start in the New Zealand spring, so the person would need to be available to start by July or August 2015. Application deadline is 29 May 2015. Questions about the research can be sent to: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Full application details can be found here: http://www.biol.canterbury.ac.nz/ferg/documents/UC-BIOL-PhD-Scholarship-0415.pdf
