PhD contract in Terrestrial (Island) Ecology within an ERC AdG
Job description: The Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies
(IMEDEA) offers a PhD position to
support the research activities in the context of the European Research Council
(ERC) project IslandLife (ID: 101054177), led by Prof. Anna Traveset. This is a 5-year research project funded by the
ERC that will be developed at the Terrestrial Ecology lab, within the
Department of Global Change and Oceanography of IMEDEA.
The tentative title of
the PhD thesis will be:
“The connection between network structure
and ecosystem functioning: a mechanistic approach to understand the role of the
pollinator community in assisting with plant reproduction”
Pollinators provide critical ecosystem functions
by pollinating plant species and structuring plant communities, especially in
the tropics. Plant-pollinator interactions at the community level can be
studied with network approach, which provides insights into how the mutualistic
interactions are structured across the community. These structural properties
of networks are relatively well-studied, yet we have little understanding how
network structure translates into ecosystem functions. This PhD project will
aim to understand the contribution of pollinator species towards plant
reproductive performance thereby shaping plant community composition. We
propose to use a multi-pronged approach including plant and pollinator traits,
phylogenies and abundances at the community level to improve our understanding
of how network structure (global, meso-, and micro-level properties) explain
functional performance of pollinators, and how this performance varies over
time.
We will study these detailed mechanistic relationships
between plants and pollinators in a relatively small community on the tropical
island of Frégate in the Seychelles, where we have detailed pre-existing
knowledge of the plant and pollinator community. The research will consist of strong empirical and
theoretical components, which require a keen interest in field work and
modelling.
This
PhD will be co-supervised by project partner Dr Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury,
Centre of Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK. Part of
the PhD may involve extended visits to the UK to work closely with Dr
Kaiser-Bunbury.