For the full position posting, see https://careers.alaska.edu/en-us/job/524163/post-doctoral-fellow-consumer-ecology-of-boreal-forests
Position Summary:
The University of Alaska invites applications for a two-year post doctoral researcher in consumer dynamics in boreal forests. This is a fixed-term position working with the Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research (BNZ-LTER) program located in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Duties:
This position focuses on data synthesis to advance understanding of herbivore dynamics and their impacts on successional trajectories in the boreal forest. The Post Doctoral Researcher will work as a member of the BNZ-LTER team to integrate results from studies of vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores in interior Alaska. Data sources include field-based surveys of hare, moose, and insect herbivore populations, herbivory experiments carried out over the past three decades, and monitoring of herbivore impacts on dominant woody plants and ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling. The post-doctoral researcher will aim to integrate these results to assess the magnitude and distribution of consumer impacts on tree population dynamics and competitive interactions, and consequences for successional trajectories of boreal forests. The data synthesis will support our efforts to understand the role that consumers play in directing succession and forest dynamics in the context of the ongoing changes in climate and disturbance being experienced in Alaska and other boreal regions.
Duties of the position focus on data synthesis, including compiling data from the BNZ-LTER data archive as well as other data sources, developing a conceptual framework to guide the synthesis analytics, and conducting data analyses with modern analytic tools to
address the synthesis questions. The Post Doctoral Researcher will work closely with other members of the BNZ-LTER team to develop synthesis questions and approach, including assimilation of results into collaborative modelling efforts.
The position allows for multiple professional development opportunities, including joining a team of investigators from multiple academic institutions focused on boreal forest ecology, working closely with experts in population dynamics, trophic interactions, disturbance ecology, and simulation modeling, and engaging with ongoing field investigations.
