Post doc Biodiversity-Ecosystem functioning research(télomère) et la survie

13 Oct 2023
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Universite de Montpellier

Department

Human Resources

Research Field

Biological sciences » Biodiversity

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

France

Application Deadline

13 Nov 2023 – 23:59 (Europe/Paris)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Hours Per Week

38

Offer Starting Date

1 Jan 2024

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

HE

Reference Number

2023-R0441

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Mission principale :

 

Based on an exceptional breadth of data on soil biodiversity (microorganisms, nematodes, earthworms and plant roots) and soil properties and functioning (microbial activity, C and N dynamics, greenhouse gas fluxes) collected under different soil humidity conditions across distinct  ecosystem types in the French Occitanie region (southwest of France), the postdoc will lead the analyses of linkages between biodiversity and  ecosystem functioning. The majority of the study sites are heavily equipped long-term monitoring sites, some of them with experimental  precipitation manipulation, with excellent background knowledge facilitating data analyses and interpretation.

 

Activités : 

The major activity will be the statistical analysis of already acquired data in collaboration with the researchers involved in the project and paper  writing. Organizing workshops focussing on specific paper prrojects with the involved researchers and discussion groups on particular statistical  approaches will also be part of the activities.

Requirements

Research Field

Biological sciences » Biodiversity

Education Level

PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

We expect the scholar to be able to explore the (already existing) data sets, develop statistical protocols and to lead data analysis, which could include different procedures (e.g. multivariate analysis, linear mixed models, structural equation modelling, food web energetic models,…)  independently or in combination according to the candidate’s expertise and interests. There is also the possibility to get involved in  biogeochemical modelling depending on the candidate’s experience and interest. Overall, we seek a candidate interested in the link between  (soil)biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, having a strong background in statistical analyses and motivated to publish the results in  international journals. Ideally, the candidate is familiar with different disciplines represented in the project as she/he will interact with the entire research consortium and should be openminded towards combining different concepts and approaches.C

tories.

 

Specific Requirements

The consortium project involves different research groups in the Occitanie Region, namely in Montpellier, Toulouse and Moulis. The postdoc is expected to visit the different groups and to organize work units in the different laboratories.

Research Field

Biological sciences » Biodiversity

Additional Information
Selection process

Send you CV and cover letter by email at : [email protected]

Additional comments

Soils play a key role in terrestrial ecosystems by driving those processes that underpin the provision of key ecosystem goods and services including soil fertility, control of the water cycle, plant productivity and climate regulation (1-3). There is strong concern about the soils’ capacity  to serve as a carbon (C) stock, water filter, and support of food and fiber production with increasing pressure by ongoing climate change, land  use change and the strong modifications of biodiversity (4-6). An improved and integrative soil management across different ecosystems types  ranging from agricultural ecosystems, to natural ecosystems such as grasslands, forests and wetlands accounting for predicted climate change  is urgently needed and should be a major issue in environmental policy (7).

Soils harbour an astounding diversity of organisms across essentially all branches of the tree of life (3), which is organized in complex, mostly trophic, interaction networks (8, 9). The enormous diversity and associated functional characteristics of soil organisms such as microorganisms  (10, 11), soil fauna (12-14) or plant roots (15) and how they contribute to soil processes, makes a mechanistic understanding and predictive  framework very challenging even within single trophic levels (16, 17). The characterization of the functional structure of communities, i.e. the  composition and diversity of the functional traits of organisms (18), is a powerful approach that has been extensively developed in the past  decades in order to link organisms to the role they play in ecosystems. For a given trophic level, higher trait diversity is usually considered to  increase the rates of ecosystem processes, because functionally distinct organisms may exploit distinct resources (16). However, soil functions  depend on the functional diversity of several interacting trophic levels, advocating for a multitrophic functional characterization of soil biota (19- 22). Linking multitrophic soil functional diversity to multiple functions in a diversity of agro- and natural ecosystems could therefore provide a firm  basis for decision making in ecosystem management policies (23).

In southern France, substantial reductions of precipitation and increasing intensities of summer drought are expected for the second half of the  21st century (24-26). At the same time, the intensity of single rainfall events causing local flooding is predicted to increase (27). Altered climatic  conditions impact soil processes in a complex way, with both direct (e.g. water availability), and indirect effects, by changing the composition of  biological communities. A mechanistic approach is needed to disentangle these effects and anticipating how the relation between soil  biodiversity and functions will be modified. Microbial community responses to altered rainfall distribution may vary (28). Generally, while soil  microbial diversity may decrease in response to increasing aridity (29), the fungal community seems more resistant to drought than bacteria (30,  but see 31), and drought can alter functional gene abundances (32). Such changes in microbial communities can affect ecosystem process rates  (33, 34). Soil fauna may respond differently to drought compared to microorganisms, being particularly sensitive to the frequency of rainfall  events rather than the absolute amount of rainfall (35, 36). However, drought tolerance and resistance vary among species of soil fauna and  may further depend on the functional diversity of communities. Plants also show strong adaptations of their root traits (37), with numerous  potential consequences for soil and ecosystem functioning (17). For example, changes in root exudate quantity and quality after drought can  lead to increased decomposition of soil organic C (priming) and contribute to the sharp peak in CO2 production when soil is rewetted (38).

Overall, it is largely unknown how the response of soil microorganisms, soil fauna and plants are connected, and how they modulate the  functioning of soils and entire ecosystems with ongoing climate change and loss of biodiversity. Because soil biota control much of the  greenhouse gas emissions, potential feedback or feedforward effects could be substantial with large consequences on biosphere – atmosphere  interactions.

Within the consortium project BELOW funded through the BiodivOc program, the questions of how the diversity of key groups of soil organisms  drive multiple ecosystem functions (greenhouse gas emissions, soil C storage, nutrient cycling) and how it is affected by changes in water  availability (extreme drought, flooding) are addressed:

How are ecosystem processes regulated by multiple levels of soil biodiversity across contrasting ecosystem types of Occitanie? A major aim of BELOW is to improve our general understanding of the role of soil biodiversity in driving ecosystem multifunctionality including processes  relevant for nutrient cycling, GHG emissions, soil C storage, and primary productivity across different ecosystems. The ambition of this project is  to answer this question at unprecedented scale, i.e. across a range of ecosystems of the Occitanie region, and level of soil organism  characterization.

How are these linkages influenced by climate change? Here we seek to quantify the importance of soil water regime, as an important part of ongoing and future climate change, on soil biodiversity metrics. Because anticipated changes in rainfall patterns and water availability are a  major threat in the studied region, there will be a strong focus on these components of climate change and how soil biodiversity may potentially  mitigate these effects.

How can the knowledge of such linkages be used to inform biodiversity and ecosystem management? BELOW aims at translating the insights of how changes in soil biodiversity regulates ecosystem processes to applicable tools for land managers. To do this we intend to propose a  selection of biological metrics (linked to several facets of soil biodiversity: functional diversity and trait distribution, genetic diversity) and metrics  related to key ecosystem processes that are good proxies for soil functions and are sensitive to climate change. Identifying such soil indicators  will provide a powerful tool to estimate the sensitivity of soil organisms to changes in water regime, and anticipate the cascading impacts on

This may foster discussion with a wide range of stakeholders, including local site managers and national authorities in charge of designing strategies in conservation and adaptation to climate change.

 

REFERENCES:

1) Wardle DA Communities and Ecosystems : Linking the Aboveground and Belowground Components (Princeton Univ. Press, 2002).

2) Wall DH et al. (eds.) Soil Ecology and Ecosystem Services (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012).

3) Bardgett RD and van der Putten WH. 2014. Nature 515: 505-5011.

4) Geisen S and van der Putten WH. 2019. Current Biol. 29: R1036-R1044

5) FAO, ITPS, GSBI, SCBD, and EC. State of knowledge of soil biodiversity – Status, challenges and potentialities, Report 2020. Rome.

6) Jansson JK and Hofmockel KS. 2020. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 18: 35-46.

7) Fossey M et al. 2020. Front. Environ. Science 8: 28.

8) Digel C et al. 2014. Oikos 123: 1157-1172.

9) Brose U and Scheu S. 2014. Oikos 123: 1153–1156.

10) Tedersoo L et al. 2014. Science 346: 1078+

11) Louca S et al. 2019. PLoS Biol. 17: e3000106.

12) Poinar Jr. GO. The Evolutionary History of Nematodes. Nematology Monographs and Perspectives, Vol. 9 (Brill, 2011).

13) Phillips HR et al. 2019. Science 366: 480-485.

14) Gongalsky KB. 2021. Soil Biol. Biochem. in press.

15) Bergmann J et al. 2020. Science Adv. 6: eaba3756.

16) Heemsbergen DA et al. 2004. Science 306: 1019-1020.

17) Freschet GT et al. 2021a. New Phyt. in press.

18) Mouillot D et al. 2011. PLoS ONE: e17476.

19) Wagg C et al. 2014. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111: 5266-5270.

20) Soliveres S et al. .2016. Nature 536: 456-459.

21) Brose U and Hillebrand H. 2016. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 371: 20150267.

23) Delgado-Baquerizo M et al. 2020. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 4: 210–220.

24) Dubrovský M et al. 2014. Reg. Environ. Change 14: 1907-1919.

25) Polade SD et al. 2017. Sci. Rep. 7: 10783.

26) Seager et al. 2019. J. Climate 32: 2887-2915.

27) Tramblay Y and Somot S. 2018. Clim. Change 151: 289-302.

28) Schimel JP. 2018. Ann. Rev. of Ecol. Evol.Syst. 49: 409-432.

29) Maestre FT et al. 2015. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112: 15684-15689.

30) de Vries et al. 2018. Nat. Commun. 9: 3033.

31) Meisner A et al. 2018. Front. Microbiol. 9: 294.

32) Guerra CA et al. 2021. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 30: 987-999.

33) Maron P-A et al. 2018. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 84: e02738-17.

34) Gillespie LM et al. 2020. Comm. Biol. 3: 377

35) Joly F-X et al. 2019. Soil Biol. Biochem. 135: 154-162.

36) da Silva PM et al. 2020. Appl. Soil Ecol. 153 : 103628.

37) Brunner I et al. 2015. Front. Plant Science 6: 547.

38) Williams A and de Vries FT. 2020. New Phyt. 225: 1899-1905.

39) Manning P et al. 2018. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2: 427-436.

40) Asshauer KP et al. 2015. Bioinformatics 31: 2882–2884.

41) Nguyen NH et al. 2016. FUNGuild: an open annotation tool for parsing fungal community datasets by ecological guild.

42) Han H et al. 2020. Europ. J. Soil Biol. 97: 103153.

43) Freschet GT et al. 2021b. New Phyt. in press.

44) Fromin N et al. 2010. Ecohydrology 3: 339-348.

45) Fromin N et al. 2020. Plant Soil 449: 405-421.

46) Kibblewhite MG et al. 2008. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 363: 685–701.

47) Thoumazeau A et al. 2019. Ecol. Indic. 97: 100–110.

48) Byrnes JE et al. 2014. Methods Ecol. Evol. 5: 111–124

Website for additional job details

https://www.cefe.cnrs.fr/fr/

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE)

Country

France

City

Montpellier

Postal Code

34000

Geofield

Where to apply

E-mail

[email protected]

Contact

City

Montpellier

Website

http://www.umontpellier.fr/

Street

163 rue Auguste Broussonnet

Postal Code

34000

E-Mail

[email protected]

STATUS: EXPIRED