PostDoc in “Drought Legacy Effects on Tree Crown Chemodiversity, Leaf Microbiome, and Insect Herbivores”

PostDoc in “Drought Legacy Effects on Tree Crown Chemodiversity, Leaf Microbiome, and Insect Herbivores”

WSL - Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

Birmensdorf, Switzerland

The goal of this project is to study how drought severity and drought legacy effects modulate the interactions among phytochemical, bacterial, and herbivore diversity as well as herbivore behaviour and leaf damage patterns in mature forest tree crowns.

You will use an established throughfall exclusion experiment, canopy crane infrastructure, and climate chamber experiments to investigate how drought shapes tree-bacteria-herbivore-interactions and biodiversity patterns in mature tree crowns. You will lead the research on herbivore community responses to drought-induced changes in leaf chemistry and bacterial communities. You will work closely together with other PostDocs and PhD candidates who will be leading work packages on microbial diversity and chemodiversity. You will be in charge of the canopy herbivore sampling campaign and taxonomic identification as well as the quantification of leaf damage patterns. Moreover, you will be involved in phytochemical analyses of the leaf samples. Additionally, you will conduct bioassays to study preferences of sucking and chewing herbivores under drought conditions and the chemical and microbial factors driving these preferences. You will publish you findings in scientific journals and present your results on national and international conferences.

You hold a PhD degree in Biology or Environmental Sciences or in a related field and have a background in forest entomology, biodiversity research, chemical ecology and ideally also insect taxonomy. You are experienced in experimental planning and in coordinating demanding fieldwork. You have good knowledge in statistics (using R), a very good command of English, as well as strong skills in scientific paper writing. You will be working at WSL (ETH domain) in Birmensdorf ZH and collaborate with an interdisciplinary and international team of scientists. Therefore, good communication skills and a willingness to interact, collaboratively analyze data and develop research plans are essential. In addition you are accustomed to a high standard of independent and structured work and you are characterized by a strong team spirit.