Job VU University Amsterdam - Postdoc-position in Animal Ecology f/m

Within the section Animal Ecology of the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam (The Netherlands) we have a NWO-funded postdoc-position available for the project: Traits meet trophic interactions: predicting the effect of climate change on soil carbon cycling using functional traits.

Description of the project

The project goal is to link functional traits of plants and detritivores to soil processes. The aim is to develop a trait-based response-to-effect framework to be able to predict how expected changes in precipitation and soil water content for the Netherlands will affect soil carbon cycling. Identifying key response and effect traits should provide a powerful predictive tool to assess how biodiversity loss and global change will affect soil functions and ecosystem vulnerability. To attain this aim we will accomplish four specific objectives: i) Determine response and effect traits for selected detrtitivore species, ii) Predict the impact of detritivores on soil processes based on species effect traits, iii) Assess the overlap between response and effect traits for detritivore species, and iv) Quantify the effects of precipitation/soil water regimes on soil processes based on detritivore and litter traits. These four objectives comprise the necessary steps to test the framework, and allow us to test predictions about how soils with contrasting detritivores and litter functional diversity will respond to shifts in soil water availability and its consequences for ecosystem processes.

The project is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and may start very shortly.

·         Executing scientific research as detailed in the project description;

·         publishing results of the research in scientific journals;

·         assisting in undergraduate courses given within the Department of Ecological Science.

·         PhD degree in Ecology;

·         advanced courses in animal ecology, ecosystem ecology, community ecology or equivalent;

·         experience with plant functional traits or detritivore functional traits

·         experience with decomposition studies and/or nutrient cycling studies

·         proficiency in both written and spoken English;

·         excellent social skills, ability to work independently and high motivation will be assets.

The appointment will initially be for 12 months. After a successful evaluation the contract will be prolonged with 24 months. Gross monthly salary, based on experience, amounts to minimally

€ 2.977,- based on scale 10.5. The university’s fringe benefits of employment are available at www.vu.nl/vacatures

Further information and the complete project description can be obtained from the project leader, Dr. M.P. Berg (e-mail: matty.berg@falw.vu.nl.