Dear all, Please, find a PhD proposal in our lab at Université de Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens, France).
Best regards, Ronan Marrec -- Assistant Professor EDYSAN UMR CNRS 7058 Université de Picardie Jules Verne Amiens, France To apply, send a detailed CV and a motivation letter to e-mail addresses mentionned below. A phone or video interview will be proposed early June at the latest. The selected candidate will be interviewed by the Doctoral School committee on June, 22nd 2018 to compete for the fundings. > Dr. Guillaume DECOCQ, Full Professor, head of EDYSAN research unit [email protected] +33 (0)3 22 82 77 61 > Dr. Ronan MARREC, Assistant Professor [email protected] +33 (0)3 22 82 78 79 > Subject: Spatial and temporal relationships between alpha, beta, and gamma diversities in forest (meta-) communities in agricultural landscapes > Abstract: Forest fragmentation is now a common dynamic in temperate plain regions. Forest fragments, of various size and age, interact within a more or less intensively cultivated landscape matrix, via gene and species fluxes. Previous works allowed to describe plant and animal diversities in these fragments and local, landscape, historical, and macroecological factors explaining these patterns. However, functional and phylogenetic dimensions remain poorly investigated and the phenomena linked to scale dependence have often been neglected. The aim of our project is to fill these gaps by addressing the relationships between local diversity (alpha), regional diversity (gamma), and intra- and inter-scale dissimilarities (beta) within and among forest fragments embedded in an agricultural matrix. More precisely, spatial and/or temporal changes in alpha, beta, and gamma diversities will be quantified from a taxonomical, functional, and phylogenetic perspective; these metrics will be analyzed with mixed models to identify the factors which impact their spatial and/or temporal changes. Particular attention will be paid to (1) beta diversity to test the hypothesis of a biotic homogenization and quantify respective roles of species turnover and nestedness in species richness variations, and (2) the (linear or curvilinear) relation between alpha and gamma diversities for generalist and specialist species. This project has two main dimensions: • a temporal dimension aiming at quantifying and understanding changes in alpha, beta, and gamma diversities through time. This part will be based on the exploitation of the forestREplot database (http://www.forestreplot.ugent.be), which allows to work at the temperate biome extent, in Europe and possibly in North America, on vascular plants; • a spatial dimension aiming at quantifying and understanding spatial patterns of alpha, beta, and gamma diversities in forest metacommunities in different agricultural landscape contexts. This part will be based on the exploitation of METAFOR and smallFOREST databases (www.u-picardie.fr/smallforest/), which allow to work along a climatic gradient across the European temperate biome, on vascular plants and carabid fauna, at a species and genetic level. In addition to contribute to better knowledge of underlying processes which impact spatial and temporal relationships between alpha, beta, and gamma diversities in forest communities, this project will contribute to test for the habitat amount hypothesis and add clues to the current SLOSS (Single Large Or Several Small) debate, crucial to better protect biodiversity. > Key-words: Forest fragmentation – Land-use change – Metacommunity dynamics – Connectivity - Biodiversity > Expected candidate profile • M.Sc. (or equivalent) in ecological sciences with good theoretical knowledge in metapopulation and metacommunity ecology • Experience in manipulating and analyzing large databases • Very good level in statistical modeling with R • Good level in GIS (ArcGIS, QuantumGIS) is recommended • English spoken and written (Note: PhD candidate will be in a French-speaking country) • Aptitude for team work and networking (PhD project included in an international consortium) • Naturalist skills will be appreciated (plants, arthropods) > Lab structure The PhD candidate will be part of the research unit EDYSAN (UMR CNRS 7058), located at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens (northern France, Hauts-de-France region), where she/he will be supervised by G. Decocq and R. Marrec. She/he will be integrated to the European network FLEUR (Forest Loss EURope), some of whom will be part of her/his PhD committee. EDYSAN research unit is a Mixte Research Unit between the CNRS and the Université de Picardie Jules Verne. Its members are mostly interested in the effects of global changes on forest and agricultural ecosystems (including climate warming, land-use and activity changes, biological invasions, atmospheric fallout). The PhD project will be mainly part of the first research axis, "Ecological intensification of production systems" (for more information: https://www.u-picardie.fr/edysan/). FLEUR network bring together researchers working on the dynamic of forest plant species in dynamic environments. It implements observational and experimental studies along a latitudinal gradient going from Northern France to the northern limit of the temperate biome in Sweden and Estonia (for more information: http://www.fleur.ugent.be).
