Jobs Posted on the Whova Community Board of British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2024
If you know anyone in the job market, feel free to share with them
PhD position - Forest Ecology, to be advertised soon
University of Kassel The Ecological Plant Nutrition Group at the University of Kassel (Campus Witzenhausen) will soon be advertising a PhD position to study the effects of biodegradable additives to f... orest on biogeochemical and plant physiological processes.
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PhD position - funded, international, to be advertised soon
SLU VFM (Wildlife, Fish and Environment) We will soon be looking for a PhD student to model biodiversity patterns and indicators in Swedish boreal forests. You will have access to an extensive multi-taxon dataset to asse... ss landscape effects on temporal biodiversity patterns, as well as consider what can be used as reliable indicators of biodiversity.
Link:https://www.slu.se/en/departments/wildlife-fish-environmental-studies/research/restoration-ecologySee More >>
PhD opportunity (fully-funded, UK only) - Biodiversity Change
University of Reading We are seeking a highly motivated Technical Research Officer to join the Sustainable Land Management team at the University of Reading. In this role, you will manage and maintain ... the Free-Air Diesel and Ozone Enrichment (FADOE) platform (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2024.102635), supporting groundbreaking research on air pollution's effects on plant-insect interactions. You'll work between Sonning farm and Whiteknights Campus, spending most of the summer seasons at Sonning Farm, working in the field, and most of the winter in the Crops and Environment Laboratory (CEL) on campus. Ideal candidates will have experience with ecological fieldwork, technical equipment management, and an interest in plant-insect ecology.
Link:https://jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=23992See More >>
PostDoc - 3 yrs, Muskox ecology
Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Soon to be announced. The project aims to link habitat use (telemetry) and fine-scale spatial population structuring (genetics) of muskox in West Greenland. Skills requested: popu... lation ecology, population genetics, GIS, practical field work skills in remote environments. Search for Mathilde Le Moullec or PhD Laura Barbero-Palacios to have a chat on what we do and how life is in Kalaallisut Nunaat.
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University of Edinburgh Three new fully funded PhD studentships are set to advance research into the woodland creation and peatland restoration across Scotland.
Hosted by the three University coll... eges, supported by the Centre for Sustainable Forest and Landscapes (CSFL) in collaboration with Forest Research, and funded by the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability, these studentships offer a unique opportunity to combine scientific, social, and environmental studies.
Link:https://sustainability.ed.ac.uk/phd-studentshipsSee More >>
PhD - How can AI-based insect monitoring technologies enhance large-scale insect
monitoring?
PhD - Biodiversity trends in apex insect predators: what’s happening to the wasps?
Zoological Society of London To what extent are wasps winners or losers in the Anthropocene? How are
populations changing across time and in space? What are major drivers of
change? The student will... address these questions by exploiting various sources
of insect data including citizen science and museum data.
Co-supervised by Seirian Sumner (UCL)
TREES DLA
Link:https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/biodiversity-trends-apex-insect-predators-whats-happening-waspsSee More >>
PhD - How do we assess change in parasitoid wasp populations?
NHM Lead supervisor: Gavin Broad (NHM)
Co-supervisors: Seirian Sumner (UCL) and Charlie Outhwaite (ZSL)
Do parasitoids track the population trends of their hosts, or are t... hey responding
differently to ecological parameters? This project also aims to test the
importance of taxonomy in interpreting patterns of change.
TREES DLA
Link:https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/how-do-we-assess-change-parasitoid-wasp-populationsSee More >>
PhD: Enhancing surveillance of African Swine Fever in Indonesia through advanced wild animal monitoring
DICE University of Kent African Swine Fever (ASF) is a fatal disease affecting domestic and wild pigs, and is impacting the pork industry, forest livelihoods and ecosystem balance across Eurasia and Afri... ca. The disease is now established in Indonesia, which is home to six of Asia’s 11 wild pig species, including five endemics.
ASF spreads between wild and domestic pigs. The World Organisation for Animal Health called for rapid improvements to wild pig monitoring across Asia so that epidemiologically-relevant population numbers can be estimated, and more robust ASF surveillance and control measures put in place. Pigs are seldom monitored specifically, but are frequently sampled as ‘bycatch’ in camera-trap surveys. This project will improve pig monitoring and disease surveillance using this ‘bycatch’ data, which can be easily scaled-up through ongoing monitoring to help Indonesia and other Asian countries track and control ASF.
The postgraduate researcher will analyse existing longitudinal camera-trap data from across Indonesia to quantify the population dynamics of pigs prior to and following the arrival of ASF. They will explore several statistical models to estimate pig population size from occupancy data, and then use this information to design bespoke camera surveys for pigs. They will have opportunity to trial this new design in Java, coupled with remote sensing data from drone or satellites, to target the endemic Javan warty pig and wild boar. Together with questionnaire surveys of key stakeholders, the project will lead to improved population estimates of pig species and ASF impact across the country.
This NERC-funded ARIES DTP project is part of a new collaboration between Kent, the IUCN Wild Pig Specialist Group and existing conservation partners in Indonesia, embedded within a broader programme of biodiversity monitoring and ecological studies across Indonesia. The PhD results therefore have strong potential to influence environmental practices on the ground.
Link:https://www.aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships/Struebig/See More >>
Phd: Resilient dunes: determining the impacts of winter flooding variability on coastal dune wetland plant communities using remote sensing.
Loughborough University Overview Coastal dune slacks are depressions in dune systems at the level of the water table. They are a very biodiverse and extremely rare habitat which is under threat, and s... o are a nature conservation priority. Dune slacks are seasonally flooded, and the extent, depth and duration of this flooding is a key control over their ecology. Understanding the dynamics of this flooding is particularly important in the context of climate change, which is predicted to cause a gradual lowering of water tables resulting in drying or total loss of UK dune slacks (Curreli et al. 2013). Monitoring of dune slack water tables is labour intensive, and so data is highly limited in temporal and spatial extent. Ainsdale Dune Slacks and Newborough Warren National Nature Reserves are two of the most important coastal dunes in England and Wales, with a long history of monitoring both water table depth and vegetation change (54 years at Ainsdale: Clarke and Sanitwong Na Ayutthaya, 2010). Working with Natural England and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, this project will develop new methods using remote sensing data for advancing understanding of dune slack hydrology, which will be combined with historical monitoring data to evaluate the resilience of their rich biodiversity to climate change.
PostDoc, 3 y fully funded, Molecular Food Web Ecology, to be advertised soon
University of Helsinki, Tvärminne Zoological Station I am seeking a highly motivated postdoc candidate to join the project “Heatwave-driven rewiring of coastal food webs”.
Specifically, the project aims to:
Quantify sh... ifts in species dietary preferences under climate warming and resource availability scenarios.
Analyze trophic rewiring in mesocosm food webs under heatwave scenarios.
Assess the implications of these changes for coastal ecosystem functioning and stability
This will be achieved through a combination of mesocosm experiments, DNA sequencing, and food web modeling.
If you are looking for a unique postdoc opportunity, have experience in molecular ecology (e.g. eDNA and gut DNA) and/or experimental food web ecology, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
Link:skortsch.github.ioSee More >>
Fully funded PhD project on effects of forest diversification on floral reward production for pollinators
Royal Holloway University of London Project is available within the NERC TREES DLA (https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/), deadline for applications is January 20th 2025. The student will be based at the Department of Biolo... gical Sciences at Royal Holloway University of London and co-supervised by Prof Julia Koricheva (RHUL) and Prof Phil Stevenson (RBG Kew). Project description: The herb layer in forests has a large potential to provide nectar and pollen for pollinators, but forest management practices such as planting tree species mixtures vs monocultures can affect floral reward production by the herb layer via changes in understorey environment. This project will explore the effects of tree species diversity and composition on quantity and quality of the nectar and pollen produced by the herb layer, the underlying mechanisms of the above effects, and the consequences of variation in floral reward production for pollinator visitation and plant fitness. The project will use the Satakunta forest diversity experiment in Finland (https://www.sataforestdiversity.org/) which consists of plots planted with monocultures and species mixtures of different broadleaves and conifers. Quantity and chemistry of nectar and pollen produced by different understorey plant species will be compared between tree monocultures and species mixtures. To explore the underlying mechanisms of forest diversity effects, microclimatic conditions of understorey and flowering phenology of herb species in tree monocultures and mixtures will be compared. To explore the consequences of variation in floral reward production, frequency and duration of visits by different pollinator species in monocultures and mixtures and herb plant fitness will be studied. The results of the project will contribute to development of pollinator-friendly forms of forest management.
Link:https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/effects-forest-diversification-floral-reward-production-pollinatorsSee More >>
Swansea University ~6 month postdoc position to link existing multispecies, multi generation, stage structured lab-population time series with corresponding mathematical models. Previous experien... ce fitting time series models essential! Contact @theorecol.bsky.social, come and see our related poster Wednesday, A17.8
Link:https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/m.s.fowler/See More >>
GAIA 2-year Postdoc fellowships
University of Southern Denmark Excited about climate research? Apply for one of the 15 two-year GAIA fellowship positions at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) to explore things like population biology, n... ature based solutions, circular economies, digital technology and behavioural change.
You can choose any supervisor at SDU but I (Owen Jones) would be happy to support applications in population biology (broadly defined) and have a strong idea on biology impacts– that would be perfect if you’re interested in this field. Email me if you want to chat about the positions!
The deadline for this round is tight (31 December 2024) but the application is straightforward. There will be another round of applications next year.
Link:www.thegaiaproject.euSee More >>
Assistant Professor in Biology
University of Southern Denmark The Department of Biology at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) is hiring a DIAS assistant professor (tenure track) in biology, starting August 2025.
Affiliated with... the Danish Institute for advanced study (DIAS), this position offers: ✅Reduced teaching for research focus. ✅A collaborative interdisciplinary environment. ✅Opportunities to lead to your own research area and secure funding.
Fields of interest include ALL aspects of biology, but I would love to see some applications from ecologists, especially population biologists (broadly defined).
Deadline: 28th February 2025
Drop me a line or grab me at the BES conference if you want to chat about the position.
University of Southern Denmark I will soon be advertising a two-year postdoc position (funded by The Independent Research Fund, Denmark) focusing on phenology in woodland plants—trees and understorey herbs. ... > The position includes fieldwork in Sweden and Denmark and is ideal for someone with an interest in the evolutionary ecology of phenology, drones, and plant ecology.
Farmland Research Manager
Farmland Research Manager
British Trust for Ornithology This permanent, full-time post, will work within the Terrestrial Ecology Team, reporting to Head of Terrestrial Ecology, Dr Gavin Siriwardena. The post-holder will be responsi... ble, working with others in the team, for managing farmland-focused field survey, review and analytical projects, including line management of professional fieldworkers. Depending on skills and experience, and the needs of individual projects, the post will include proposal-writing, scientific reporting, literature review, data analysis/modelling and field surveys, but the main focus of the role is to manage research project work. This includes new and future, short-term projects that offer opportunities for leading roles, as well as contributing to existing/ongoing work, such as major professional farmland monitoring programmes in Wales and Northern Ireland. Most of these projects will be related to the monitoring and evaluation of agri-environment and land management schemes across the UK. The successful applicant will need to have a PhD or MSc in ecology or other related area, or equivalent experience.
You can read the full role description by clicking on the role description on our careers page.
University of Cambridge Postdoctoral opportunity in the Conservation Science Group at the University of Cambridge
Fixed-term: Funds for this position are available for three years.
W... e are looking for a highly motivated post-doctoral researcher to help develop and use new models and analyses for landscape conservation aimed at problems of habitat loss, fragmentation, and connectivity, both locally and globally. The project is a growing collaborative effort to provide reliable science for landscape conservation efforts.
Your role in the project is to: 1) apply advanced models to map connectivity globally for terrestrial vertebrates; 2) develop new metrics for interpreting the role of connectivity, habitat loss, and fragmentation for biodiversity and extinction risk; 3) test these models empirically with existing data sets; and 4) engage in applications for conservation.
You will be self-motivated, passionate about ecology and conservation, and able to work efficiently and in collaboration with external organisations and individuals. You will hold a PhD in a relevant subject and have effective written and verbal communication skills. You be able to curate, analyse and interpret large and complex data sets and models. Experience in spatial ecology, mathematical modelling, and quantitative conservation science are desirable.
Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to: Professor Robert Fletcher Email: rf497@cam.ac.uk.
Flexible working requests will be considered. We particularly welcome applications from women and candidates from a BME background for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level in our University.
If you have any queries regarding the application process please contact Anastasia Nezhentseva. Email: an286@cam.ac.uk Telephone: (0)1223 330117 Please quote reference PF44189 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy. The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications
Link:www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49330/See More >>
DPhil (PhD) Scholarship in Ornithology: Individuals, Populations & Changing Environments
University of Oxford A fully funded DPhil scholarship is available, to be held in the Edward Grey Institute, Department of Biology, University of Oxford from 1 Oct 2025. The scholarship covers stipend... at the UKRI standard rate (£19 237 for 2024-25), and fees at the home student rate*, with annual research and travel expenses of up to £5000 per year for the first three years. This scholarship will be one of a cohort of four awards starting simultaneously.
The topic of the research, and the approach taken, are flexible, but should address general questions around the responses of individuals and populations to changing environments. The research should align with the current work and interests of Prof Ben Sheldon’s research group (www.biology.ox.ac.uk/people/ben-sheldon) and fit within the broad theme of ornithology. A major strand of current work in the group is centred on understanding how processes acting at different temporal and spatial scales affect ecological and evolutionary interactions in seasonal environments, with a particular focus on the tri-trophic interaction between trees, primary consumers and birds in woodland ecosystems under climate change. Members of the current research group use a range of methods from remote sensing to field and lab experiments, genomic analysis and quantitative genetic approaches, particularly based on long-term population studies of marked individuals such as the great tit in Wytham Woods. The group’s work is currently supported by major grants from UKRI and NERC.
Informal inquiries to ben.sheldon@biology.ox.ac.uk must be accompanied by a CV and a statement (no more than one page of A4) outlining the type of research question within this area the candidate would like to pursue.
DPhil (PhD) Scholarship in Ornithology: Evolutionary Ecology of Individual Variation
University of Oxford A fully funded DPhil scholarship is available, to be held in the Edward Grey Institute, Department of Biology, University of Oxford from 1 Oct 2025. The scholarship covers stipend... at the UKRI standard rate (£19 237 for 2024-25), and fees at the home student rate*, with annual research and travel expenses of up to £5000 per year for the first three years. This scholarship will be one of a cohort of four awards starting simultaneously.
The topic of the research, and the approach taken, are flexible, but should address general questions around the origin, maintenance, and consequences, of individual variation in natural populations. The research should align with the current work and interests of Prof Ben Sheldon’s research group (www.biology.ox.ac.uk/people/ben-sheldon) and fit within the broad theme of ornithology. Past work in the group in this area has used approaches from behavioural ecology, quantitative and molecular genetics to understand individual variability in phenotypic traits and their interaction with the environment. Members of the current research group use a range of methods from remote sensing to field and lab experiments, genomic analysis and quantitative genetic approaches, particularly based on long-term population studies of marked individuals such as the great tit in Wytham Woods. The group’s work is currently supported by major grants from UKRI and NERC.
Informal inquiries to ben.sheldon@biology.ox.ac.uk must be accompanied by a CV and a statement (no more than one page of A4) outlining the type of research question within this area the candidate would like to pursue.
PhD: Exploring the Lives of Flying Insects: Using Machine Learning to enable the Instrumentation of Tracking Tags
University of Sheffield Biologging has revolutionised the study of vertebrates, allowing their behaviour to be recorded in the wild, far from the researcher. A GPS tag would previously only reveal where ... an animal was. Adding an accelerometer, for example, reveals when the animal is feeding, foraging, mating, predating or sleeping. An ECG device can monitor heart rate; a thermistor, body temperature; a barometric pressure sensor the depth of a whale’s dive. The scale of this change to biology, neuroethology and ecology is vast, but has failed to reach the majority of animal species: flying insects. The challenge this PhD addresses is: How can we replicate this revolution in flying insects?
This PhD proposal builds on a previously developed 15mg tracking tag that has been successfully tested with bumblebees. The tag only allows the bee’s approximate trajectory to be determined. The aim is to add sensors to this tag. We will focus initially on recording accelerometry, as this can be used to infer behaviour (which has immediate applications in mapping where pollination is occurring; impact of pesticides; bioenergetics; etc).
The project will involve a combination of probabilistic machine learning, software development, electronics, engineering and biological field work for both collecting training data, and later for testing and refining the final system in ecological field trials.
Interested candidates are strongly encouraged to contact the project supervisors (Dr Michael Smith m.t.smith@sheffield.ac.uk) to discuss your interest in and suitability for the project prior to submitting your application.
Candidate Requirements Candidates must have achieved a minimum 2:1 undergraduate and/or postgraduate masters’ qualification (MSc) in Computer Science, or a relevant subject, by the start of the PhD. The English language requirements must also be met by the start of the PhD.
PhD position: Forecasting the near-future spread of Novel Ecosystems
Aarhus University Biotic assemblages across the globe are transforming at unprecedented rates, a phenomenon documented in the IPBES Global Assessment. This accelerating change stems from a complex ... interplay of direct and indirect anthropogenic drivers, mirroring the "Great Acceleration" in socio-economic and Earth System trends since the mid-20th century. As these pressures continue, they give rise to Novel Ecosystems (NEs)—natural or semi-natural ecosystems with species compositions and ecological functions that diverge significantly from historical baselines due to human influence.
The emergence and spread of NEs present risks and opportunities for global biodiversity and ecosystem function. Effective management and stewardship of these ecosystems are crucial for sustaining nature's contributions to humanity. However, achieving this requires an advanced, mechanistic understanding of how contemporary drivers of ecological change will reshape the biosphere in the near future.
This modelling-focused PhD project will focus on developing computationally intensive, high-resolution global forecasts of near future NE spread and assessing the resulting impacts on biodiversity and climate-related ecosystem functions. Specifically, the candidate will:
1. Develop and apply Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs)
PhD on biodiversity, food security, and cross-scale impacts in Africa
University of Leeds Interdisciplinary PhD combining multi-scale biodiversity and land-use change modelling, climate change, and participatory approaches. We want to understand how Sub-Saharan African... countries can meet the needs of their own people while conserving biodiversity and responding to climate change.
PhD 1: Mapping earth’s species interactions with artificial intelligence
QMUL and UCL We are offering a PhD project broadly focused on interactions between plants and animals, such as seed dispersal and pollination, and how emerging machine learning, functional tra... it and global mapping tools can be used to study and conserve these interactions at global scales. The project focuses on three interrelated research questions:
1. What are the major global patterns of species interaction diversity?
2. How has earth history and global climatic variation shaped interaction biogeography?
3. What are the main anthropogenic threats to this understudied dimension of diversity?
PhD 2: Discovering biotic interactions from citizen science imagery using deep learning
UCL and QMUL Interactions between species are the main contributor for many ecosystem services, including pollination. Knowing which species interact with each other, and where, allows us to a... ssess productivity like crop yield, and take measures to protect relevant ecosystem hotspots. Interactions are traditionally observed through field experiments; however, this is tedious to do and difficult to scale.
A recently emerging alternative is to identify interactions in photographs automatically with machine learning. Thanks to crowdsourcing initiatives like iNaturalist and eBird, we now have billions of such images available, with many of them depicting interactions (e.g., a bee visiting a flower).
This project explores identifying multi-species interactions with machine learning. Deep learning in particular has gained strong traction for visual species classification, but interaction discovery is less studied with these tools. You will work on tasks from the detection of individuals to automated classification of interaction types, including state-of-the-art deep learning methods like foundation models. Once established, such models can then be used on the wealth of environmental, geolocated images to automatically detect and map biotic interactions at scale. This research has the potential to jumpstart future ecological studies about interactions and help uncover interaction hotspots and protect biodiversity at scale.
Link:https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/discovering-biotic-interactions-citizen-science-imagery-using-deep-learningSee More >>
18-month postdoc on drought modelling in forests
University of Bristol In my group, we have an opening for an 18-month postdoctoral research associate with a focus on drought modelling. The role will involve either developing the JULES land surface m... odel or applying machine learning approaches to explore the legacy of drought and heat extremes in forest ecosystems. This role is part of a NERC-funded project and will work alongside Profs. Tristan Quaife (University of Reading), Lucy Rowland (University of Exeter) and Patrick Meir (University of Edinburgh).
We are also advertising several funded PhDs in my group.
PhD 3: Where the little things are: Understorey plant megadiversity across scales
RBG Kew and QMUL Are you interested in travelling to Indonesia, mapping biodiversity, and making environmental science more equitable? This project focuses on understudied rainforest diversity—the... understorey plant community. While trees structurally dominate rainforests, herbaceous plants contribute as much as half of the plant diversity. Conserving rainforests requires a better understanding of these species, especially given the threats of deforestation, development, and agriculture in Indonesia. The project addresses two questions, you may choose to focus on one, or both:
1. How can we monitor and conserve understory plant diversity through local and global plot networks? The aim is to develop a standardized, globally actionable method to survey herbaceous diversity using small plots in Indonesian rainforests in Borneo, Wallacea, or New Guinea.
2. What are the major patterns and drivers of herbaceous diversity from regional to global scales? Using GIS and computational methods, you will explore the drivers of understorey plant diversity at regional (tropical Indo-Pacific) and global scales.
You will also help develop workshops on plant surveying and identification in Indonesia and London, supporting underrepresented communities and training future botanists. Project outcomes will help incorporate herbaceous diversity into conservation planning, aiding the achievement of the Convention on Biological Diversity Target 3—protecting 30% of Earth by 2030.
Link:https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/where-little-things-are-understorey-plant-megadiversity-across-scalesSee More >>
PhD 4: Decoding and mapping Earth’s species interactions with artificial intelligence
QMUL Would you like to take your career in ecology, artificial intelligence (AI) or conservation biology to the next level in one of the world’s most exciting cities? The McFadden Lab ... at Queen Mary University of London is offering a fully-funded 4-year PhD studentship with flexibility to decide on the research topic. Current research in the lab is broadly focused on interactions between plants and animals such as seed dispersal and pollination, and how emerging AI and global mapping tools can be used to study and conserve these interactions from local to global scales. Based on your interests, the PhD project will focus on one or both of the below research questions:
1. Can we teach AI systems to understand ecological interactions using computer vision or multi-modal approaches, and how can we use the models to learn about the biology of plant-animal interactions?
2. What are the major global patterns of species interaction diversity, how have these patterns been formed and what are the main threats to this understudied dimension of diversity?
Spatio-temporal determinants of bycatch in Europe’s most endangered seabird
University of Liverpool This project, hosted between the newly-formed Avian Ecology Group at the University of Liverpool and the University of Oxford, is the perfect opportunity to bring together long-te... rm and short-term datasets to understand the complex interactions between climate change, bycatch and fisheries discards policy to provide essential information for stakeholders and policy makers aiming to curb the decline of Europe’s most endangered seabird, the Balearic shearwater.
An online Q&A session with Ollie will be held tomorrow morning (12th Dec) online, details on the ‘findaphd’ advert linked below!
PhD studentship: Exploring persistence of ecological networks in anthropogencially modified landscapes
Queen Mary University of London Project Overview
Humans are rapidly modifying natural habitats. Although the impacts of this on ecological communities are now relatively well-known, the degree to which sp... ecies interactions influence network vulnerability remains poorly explored. This project will explore how ecological networks respond to anthropogenic disturbance using a combination of numerical community models, individual based models, and field sampling of networks in disturbed habitats (e.g. ant-plant mutualistic interactions). Models will be used to make predictions about the relationship between persistence, interaction type (mutualistic vs antagonistic), degree of specialisation, and landscape modification. These predictions can then be tested in tropical forests in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. There will be opportunities to develop the project in a direction of the student’s own choosing. The results of this work have relevance for conservation of protected areas and identification of habitat for restoration in terms of accounting for network structure.
Research Environment
The Network and Community Ecology lab led by Dr Tom M. Fayle explores how network structure is affected environmental gradients, with a particular focus the impacts of anthropogenic global changes, and consequences for ecosystem processes. The student will be based at Queen Mary University of London, and will also join the research group of Dr Axel Rossberg (http://axel.rossberg.net/). There will be opportunities to collaborate with other members of the Fayle research group at the Institute of Entomology at the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The student will have the opportunity to gain experience in network ecology, statistical analytical methods, and conducting tropical field work.
Link:https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/postgraduate/phd-programmes/projects/display-title-1171654-en.htmlSee More >>
PhD studentship: People-biodiversity interactions: is the fabric of life unravelling?
Queen Mary University of London Project Overview
Biodiversity sustains human life. Tens of thousands of species are known to provide material and non-material benefits to people globally, including food, ... medicine, and energy (1, 2). This intricate relationship between people and biodiversity constitutes an essential weave to the “fabric of life” – a concept proposed recently by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to refer to the whole of the living world (3).
Given the dramatically increasing impact of human activities on nature and associated decline of life on Earth (4), the people-biodiversity weave may be fraying, posing the urgent need for a better understanding of its structure, function, and durability. This PhD project will analyse hundreds of thousands of reports of animal and plant uses collected across the world throughout history to reconstruct the people-biodiversity weave as an interaction network between species and the benefits they provide to humans (e.g., food, medicine, fuel) (5).
The student will estimate species’ vulnerability to global change (e.g., land use and climate change, overexploitation) using the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and species distribution modelling (e.g., 2, 6, 7, 8).
This will then allow the assessment of the robustness of the people-biodiversity interaction network and humanity’s potential resilience to the biodiversity crisis (e.g., 5, 9). Critically, the network approach will allow the prediction of cascading impacts of species extinctions through the people-biodiversity weave.
PhD studentship: EXPLORING THE IMPACTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGE ON NETWORKS USING MICROBIAL MICROCOSMS
Queen Mary University of London / University College London Humans are rapidly altering natural ecosystems, often resulting in fragmentation of remaining habitats. While consequent reductions in species richness and changes in composition ... are now well documented, the impacts on ecological networks remain poorly studied. This is important because network structure influences ongoing ecosystem stability and provision of ecosystem services. This project will explore how habitat fragmentation impacts network persistence in relation to the types of species interactions present (e.g. mutualistic, ammensal, competitive, parasitic). For example, fragmentation should have strong negative impacts on obligate mutualistic networks than on antagonistic networks, because isolated habitat fragments require simultaneous (re)colonisation by both obligate partners. The student will investigate these questions using a combination of synthetic microbial community microcosms (10.1093/jambio/lxae158) and agent-based modelling approaches (10.1098/rstb.2007.2061). The microcosm approach provides the opportunity to experimentally test how habitat fragmentation affects ecological networks in a way that would be extremely challenging in real ecosystems. This work has the potential to inform planning of habitats to conserve or restore, particularly in terms of spatial habitat arrangements. The combination of computational and in vitro models can be adapted to particular ecosystems to explore the outcomes of different conservation management decisions.
Link:https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/exploring-impacts-anthropogenic-change-networks-using-microbial-microcosmsSee More >>
PhD studentship: IMPACTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGE ON RAINFOREST EPIPHYTES DUE TO INCREASED TREEFALLS.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew / Queen Mary University of London Ongoing anthropogenic global change is expected to accelerate the rate of treefalls in tropical forests, due to altered climate, habitat clearance, and forest fragmentation. Canop... y epiphyte communities are likely to be strongly affected by treefalls, both for epiphytes whose supporting tree has fallen, and for those on trees neighbouring the treefall. However, this remains poorly explored. Possible drivers include altered microclimate, and increasing herbivory pressure from mammals. This project will explore how accelerating treefall frequency is impacting the epiphytic flora, using a combination of field sampling of epiphytes at treefall sites at ground and canopy levels, rope access methods, microclimate mapping, experimental exclusion of ground-based mammalian herbivores, and collaboration with ongoing long-term vegetation monitoring in permanent plots. Field work will be conducted in Malaysian Borneo, which is home to the tallest tropical forests in the world, with some emergent trees rising to 100 m above the forest floor. In addition to focal surveys in Danum Valley Conservation Area, opportunistic sampling of recent treefalls around Malaysian Borneo will also be carried out, through the lead supervisor’s extensive network of contacts in this region, allowing construction of a treefall chronosequence. This project will inform conservation decisions to mitigate the impacts of ongoing anthropogenic global change on hyper-diverse lowland tropical ecosystems.
Link:https://www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/impacts-anthropogenic-change-rainforest-epiphytes-due-increased-treefallsSee More >>
PhD: Bridging the divide between distant water fleets and coastal communities in the biggest unregulated fishery in the world
University of St Andrews The goal is to quantify the amount and impact of the rapid increase in distant water fishing on coastal communities and the Jumbo flying squid they rely so heavily on. It will foc... us on i) the development of innovative methods including AI computer vision to combine vessel tracking data and satellite imagery to detect potential illegal fishing activities inside coastal countries jurisdictions, ii) the development of proxies to quantify potential illegal fishing pressure; and iii) evaluating the socio-economic impact of the significant reduction in squid availability in 2024 and the local, national, and global implications.
Link:https://iapetus2.ac.uk/studentships/bridging-the-divide-between-distant-water-fleets-and-coastal-communities-in-the-biggest-unregulated-fishery-in-the-world/See More >>
ACCE+ PhD Opportunity: Enhancing detections of invertebrates to improve biosecurity in the South Atlantic
University of Liverpool We welcome applications for this PhD project, which aims to assess and develop different invertebrate trapping and sampling protocols at points of entry and on ships visiting isla... nds in the south Atlantic region, to maximize the chances of invertebrate detections at an early stage of introduction.
Biosecurity can only be improved if we can effectively detect new incursions of species at points of entry. Optimization of species detection in the south Atlantic is still needed, especially given the recent rise in tourism and tourist-related shipping in the region. The project outcomes will enable local governments to keep up with the increased risk of introduction and act on identified incursions accordingly.
Funded PhD studentship: Understanding reproductive success to evaluate the impact of global warming on Andean trees
University of Liverpool This project aims to explore the mechanisms that affect range shifts in the Andean cloudbase zone, in particular, we want to evaluate the impact of warming on one of the most sens... itive stages of a tree’s life cycle, the flowering phase. We will monitor the reproductive ability (pollen, seed viability, fruit production) of a group of Andean tree species across their distribution range and we will perform a cutting-edge floral heating experiment to mimic warming conditions. The student will have the opportunity to explore and expand questions such as:
- How does reproductive ability vary along the distributional range of montane species? Can we observe a difference in species distributions' trailing and leading edges?
- Is the reproductive ability of trees affected by experimental heating? How does the response change along the species’ distribution range?
The monitoring and heating experiments will be set up in Podocarpus National Park, in Ecuador, with optimal logistical conditions and extensive expertise. The project requires data collection during at least 2 field seasons where it will be necessary to climb trees.
RPTU - Landau In the first months of 2025 there will be a call for 14 PhD projects at the Kaiserslautern-Landau University (RPTU) as part of the RTG "SystemLink" to work on multiple aspects rel... ated to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems exposed to multiple anthropogenic stressors (e.g. pesticides, invasive species, hydrological alterations):
Among the topics:
- Food web analysis (Dna barcoding, stable isotopes) - Community analysis (insects, spiders, bats, etc, vegetation) - Biogeochemical analysis of carbon fluxes - Diet quality and predator fitness
There is not yet an official call out there but get in touch with me if interested and if want to know more about it.
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Postdoc researcher in agroecology, spatial modelling and stakeholder engagement
Eurac Research The selected candidate will work on research, development and training initiatives to promote agroecological adaptation strategies for more climate resilient and sustainable mount... ain agriculture. The overall aim is to better understand biodiversity mediated benefits in agroforestry and vineyard systems and to contribute to the development and testing of cost-effective and stakeholder-driven solutions to build climate resilience.
Link:https://eurac.onboard.org/jobs/54WWrx49See More >>
PhD in vegetation modelling
VU Amsterdam We are looking for an enthusiastic and qualified MSc, with a degree in biology, ecology, environmental science, physics, mathematics, or equivalent and experience in modelling and... /or computational analysis, who wishes to pursue a PhD at the Systems Ecology section which is part of the Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-LIFE).
Tropical forest response to rising atmospheric CO2, climate change, and disturbances depends on their ability to acquire nutrients. Tropical trees have evolved various mechanisms to overcome the inherent soil infertility, such as the symbiosis and interactions with soil microorganisms. Key mechanisms of this interplay are not yet accounted for in global models, and the response of tropical forests to unprecedented climatological conditions remains thus uncertain. This project sets out to utilize field and experimental knowledge from state-of-the-art monitoring programs and forest manipulation experiments in the Amazon rainforest to improve representations of tropical forests in land surface models to inform on effective adaption and mitigation measures.
You will develop novel formulations of plant-soil interactions that integrate trait-based processes of belowground ecology into vegetation models, with a focus on carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles in tropical forest ecosystems. Your code developments, model evaluations, and applications will focus on the multifunctionality of plant roots and their response to global change.
During your 4-year-long PhD, you will dive into the details of plant physiology, root and fungi ecology, soil organic matter dynamics, ecosystem ecology, community ecology, and climate change. You will engage with various aspects of trait-based modelling, Earth System science, biogeochemistry, and atmosphere-biosphere interactions.
PhD: Developing metrics of change for pollinating insects in the UK
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Interested in applied statistics, with an opportunity to work within the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme on a unique 8-year dataset and also with a placement at the Joint Nature C... onservation Committee (JNCC)? In this project, based at UKCEH, you will use a variety of cutting-edge modelling techniques and the data collected by UK PoMS to derive novel metrics to monitor pollinating insects in the UK. This would underpin a clearer understanding of patterns of change, likely causes of shifts and potentially the effectiveness of mitigation options. You will also have the opportunity to work on different types of data, including large citizen science datasets to develop integrated indicators. You will develop state-of-the-art Bayesian hierarchical integrated models that make use of multiple data sources to generate unified metrics of pollinator change. The outputs from this project will inform the production of official statistics and indicators which will help inform new policies and practices to conserve UK pollinators.
Link:https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/cr2025-21-developing-metrics-of-change-for-pollinating-insects-in-the-uk/?p178914See More >>
Funded PhD: Impacts of drought on the communities of leaf-litter arthropods and their food-web interactions.
Biology Centre CAS and University of South Bohemia Highly motivated candidates are sought to join a project funded by the Czech Science Foundation that aims to explore the effects of drought on the leaf-litter communities of arthr... opods in subtropical and tropical forest ecosystems, using a combination of cutting-edge field and laboratory methods. The students will conduct field surveys and perform rain enclosures experiments in different forest systems in Taiwan, a region with high arthropod abundance and variable rainfall. In addition to the measures of taxonomic and functional diversity of ants, beetles and spiders from the field experiments, the project will include also lab work. Stable isotope measures of the consumers and their gut metabarcoding will be used to test for the shifts in the foodweb through intraguild competition. There will also be opportunities to develop the project in a direction of the student’s own choosing, and form collaborations with international partners. Duties will include spending extensive period in Taiwan, with remaining time spent in the laboratory in the Czech Republic to analyse the collected data and pursue doctoral studies. The successful applicant will join the Ant Research Group at the Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre CAS, and the Zoology Department of the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic, under the supervision of Dr. Petr Klimes.
Link:https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/impacts-of-drought-on-the-communities-of-leaf-litter-arthropods-and-their-food-web-interactions/?p179473See More >>
Assistant Professor of Land Use and Wildlife Health
University College Dublin We are recruiting for a number of academic positions at University College Dublin, Ireland, under the Ad Astra Programme, including a role as Assistant Professor of Land Use ... and Wildlife Health.
Please feel free to circulate the ad to any excellent candidates who may be interested in applying. The post also comes with funding for a PhD student and some research support, and will receive a reduced teaching load in the first three years.
