Researcher in Environmental Science - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The role of microbes in physical soil carbon stabilziation

Soils store much more carbon (C) than the atmosphere, and microorganisms play an important role to govern whether C compounds remain in the soil, or whether they are disintegrated back to CO2. An important mechanism of long-term C storage is the physical stabilization of organic matter within the soil structure, meaning that C can be “hidden” from its decomposers in the complex matrix of soil aggregates, but the processes involved are not well understood.

We will study the dynamic process of microbial soil aggregate formation, and the nature of fungal “gluing” exudates, with help of different synchrotron light techniques, isotope probing and microfluidic systems. We will combine these micro-scale studies with experiments at field scale, where we analyse a soil aggregate structure gradient and investigate the amount of spatio-physical inaccessible C in relation to its aggregate stability.

Duties

• Performance of experiments on fungal soil aggregation in sterile cultures and soil batches
• FT-IR and Raman microspectroscopy analysis in microfluidic soil chips
• Dimitris project/other?
• Sample analysis with (photothermal) IR- and Raman microspectroscopy and synchrotron based Scanning Transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) and x-ray fluoerescence (XRF).
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Publication of the results

Requirements

• PhD certificate in natural sciences
• Very good proficiency in written and communicated English
• Good communication skills and the ability to work well with other members of the group
• Very good expertise in IR- (including sub-micrometre IR spectroscopy) and Raman microspectroscopy on environmental and soil samples
• Experience in STXM on environmental microbial samples
• Poficiency in data analysis for IR-, Raman microspectroscopy and STXM
• Expertise in handling sterile fungal cultures, including arbuscular mycorrhizal cultures

Merits

• Experience with interdisciplinary projects
• Relevant postdoctoral experience in soil sciences and microbial soil aggregation

Terms of employment

Temporary employment for 12 months.

Instructions on how to apply

Applications shall be written in English. Please draw up the application in accordance with LTH’s Academic qualifications portfolio – see link below. Upload the application as PDF-files in the recruitment system. Read more: http://www.lth.se/english/working-at-lth/to-apply-for-academic-positions-at-lth/