Doctoral student in Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Forests in Sweden are important repositories of biodiversity and suppliers of ecosystem services, while increased wildfires associated with climate change are a major threat to these forests. The forest fires which raged across Sweden in the summer of 2018 caused tremendous damage and were distributed across nearly the entire country, spanning a climate gradient of ~0 – 9 °C mean annual temperature. These characteristics make the 2018 Swedish boreal forest fires the ideal natural experiment for examining the effects of between natural temperature regime and wildfires and their impacts on ecosystem processes.

So, for the PhD project we propose to set up measurements along a network of forest sites spanning southern to northern Sweden which burnt in 2018 to quantify the impact, and potential for recovery, of core ecosystem properties and services after fire in Swedish boreal forest. Our approach will pair extensive field measurements across Sweden with intensive laboratory measurements and an integrative modeling analysis.

Primary supervisor: Daniel Metcalfe, Lund University (http://www.nateko.lu.se/dan-metcalfe).

Co-supervisors: Jeppe Kristensen & Anders Ahlström Lund University; Johan Uddling, Gothenburg University.

Job assignment
The proposed work will apply a broad spectrum of ecological measurements - of carbon stocks, soil microbial processes, plant ecophysiology and plant/animal diversity – to survey how boreal forests are impacted by fire, and recover over 3 years following fire. This will involve intensive summer fieldwork at around 20 sites throughout Sweden, periods of laboratory analysis and potentially some ecosystem model development. Key aims are to:

1. Record how key ecosystem services recover from fire in boreal forest.
2. Assess how these impacts and recovery trajectories are influenced by fire severity, forest type and climate.
3. Utilize these data to improve model representation of boreal forest fire responses.

Eligibility/entry requirements

Essential

• University degree in a relevant subject (environmental sciences, ecology, soil science, physical geography).
• Willingness to travel extensively and spend long periods of time doing fieldwork.
• Driving license or ability to get one before June 2019.
• Ability to provide two references from previous employers / supervisors, possibly more.

Preferred

• Experience of field work in remote sites.
• Experience of laboratory work in ecology, soil science.
• Experience of ecophysiological measurements using gas analyzers.
• Experience of ecological modeling.
• Experience of quantitative analysis, particularly statistics.
• Experience of scientific publication, especially in English.
• Experience with applying for and winning grants or other awards.
• Documented experience of basic medical emergency training.
• Experience of working independently & organizing own work schedule.
• Experience of working successfully within a team.

Eligibility
Students with basic eligibility for third-cycle studies are those who- have completed a second-cycle degree- have completed courses of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are from second-cycle courses, or- have acquired largely equivalent knowledge in some other way, in Sweden or abroad.

The employment of doctoral students is regulated in the Swedish Code of Statues 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to PhD-studies may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is made, the ability of the student to benefit from PhD-studies shall primarily be taken into account. In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral studentships may be required to work with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.

Type of employment
Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.