Position

The vast majority of land plants transfer part of the organic carbon they produce by photosynthesis to rootassociated ‘arbuscular mycorrhizal’ (AM) fungi, which help plants to take up nutrients and water from the soil. This carbon can be subsequently taken up by rare non-green plants that tap into the same fungal network. New data now suggests that this phenomenon is more widespread and indicates that common green plants can also take up carbon from AM fungi. However, the plant and fungal diversity involved in AM ‘mixotrophy’ are unknown.

In this Postdoc project, we will study carbon uptake by plants from arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the field and in experimental systems. The Postdoc will design and test sampling protocols, perform stable isotope analyses, set up carbon-tracer experiments and use metabarcoding approaches to map mycorrhizal networks.

This Postdoc position is made possible by the ERC Consolidator Grant MIXOTROPH (2022-2027) and the Postdoc will interact closely with other members of the MIXOTROPH team, as well as other members of the Understanding Evolution group at Naturalis in which this project is embedded. The Postdoc will be supervised by Dr. Vincent Merckx. The candidate will also be affiliated with the University of Amsterdam.

The candidate must have a PhD degree in a relevant field (for example biodiversity, ecology, soil biology) with a strong interest in plant ecophysiology, mycorrhiza, and DNA metabarcoding. Preferably the candidate has experience with field work, stable isotope analyses, DNA metabarcoding, and relevant statistical methods as shown by a strong track record of publications in international journals.

Excellent knowledge of the English language (written and verbal) is essential, as well as a scientific and critical attitude, outstanding time management and organisational skills, and the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within the project consortium and the Naturalis research group.

The candidate should have good communication skills and be enthusiastic to contribute to knowledge dissemination and outreach activities within the MIXOTROPH project. Teaching experience is an advantage and prior experience with supervision of student projects is desired.

Fixed-term contract: 1 year, possibly to be extended with 2 more years after a successful first year evaluation.

We offer

A contract (36 hours per week) for a period of one year, possibly to be extended with two more years after a successful first year evaluation, and a monthly starting salary of at least € 3,208.- gross per month based on full time employment (depending on relevant experience). You also get an allowance for travel expenses, holiday allowance (8%) and year-end bonus (3.4%).

The starting date is October 15th, 2022 at the earliest.

The successful candidate will be employed by Naturalis in Leiden. Naturalis Biodiversity Center offers an inspiring working atmosphere with effective and efficient supervision of our PhD candidates. Our Research Coordination Office also provides ample support to our scientific staff.

Our institute promotes gender equality and wants to enhance the diversity of staff members

Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden is the Dutch national research institute for biodiversity and systematics. With our collection of 42 million specimens, one of the world's largest natural history collections, and our state-of-the-art research facilities we offer the (inter)national research infrastructure for species, identification and monitoring (for example in the ARISE and DiSSCo projects).

We closely collaborate with many Dutch universities, research institutes, industry, and government.

We host over 120 researchers including 14 academia embedded professors and 40 PhD students.

We present the history of our planet, and the diversity of life on Earth, through permanent and temporary museum exhibitions, educational programmes, and online presence, with more than 400,000 visitors per year.

All in all, a unique combination of science and culture in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world!

The research department is organised in 8 research groups comprising researchers and their postdocs and PhD-students. The current position will be in the research group Understanding Evolution, led by Dr. Vincent Merckx. Naturalis has a completely new lab building, including state-of-the-art molecular facilities, microCT scanners and electron microscopy (SEM and TEM).