Ph.D. position: Accounting for risk in sustainable forest management Domain of study: Forest management Accounting for risk in decision-making Strategic planning
Description of research: What level of forest harvesting is sustainable without degrading the forest ecosystem upon which it depends? In Québec, allowable harvest levels are currently estimated from projections of management activities and forest growth over a 150yr time horizon. Such projections depend on many hypotheses and incorporate many sources of error and uncertainty. In other areas of renewable resource management, such as wildlife conservation, waterfowl hunting or fisheries, the need to account for risk in the decision-making process has always been clear, e.g. from unexpected and dramatic fluctuations in the managed population. Population viability analysis (PVA) is a methodology developed to quantify risks and to evaluate the expected results of alternative management strategies. The objective of our project is to adapt PVA for use as a risk analysis tool for forest planning. The project will focus on a pilot forest management area in Abitibi, Quebec. The successful applicant will join a multi-university research program that offers many opportunities for interaction with leading researchers and decision makers in industry and government. The project is financed by the FQRNT; the PhD position includes a full 4yr scholarship. http://www.cef-cfr.ca/index.php?n=CEF.ProjetDeRechercheInt%e9gr%e9e A training session in PVA applications in forestry will be offered in the laboratory of Dr. Buongiorno (U. Wisconsin, Madison). Profile of potential candidates: - Education in forest sciences, biology, applied mathematics, statistics, operations research or other quantitative disciplines, - Preference will be given to candidates demonstrating a strong potential in the use and analysis of quantitative data. Study program : Doctorat en Sciences, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval (http://www.ulaval.ca), Québec. Note that although the language of instruction at Université Laval is French, one's thesis may be written in English Interested candidates can reach: Frédéric Raulier : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Steve Cumming : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Alain Leduc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jean-Martin Lussier : [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Professeur adjoint, Aménagement Forestier Faculté de foresterie et de géomatique Université Laval, Québec, Canada, G1K 7P4 Pavillon Abitibi-Price, local 2145B Téléphone : (418) 656-2131 ext 6742 Télécopieur : (418) 656-5262 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://ww2.sbf.ulaval.ca/index.php?id=432 ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.rec.ulaval.ca/lce/securite/confidentialite.htm
