Several PhD positions are available at UC Berkeley as part of a newly
funded project that seeks to merge two disparate areas of research to
understand patterns of biodiversity, (1) a broad ecological approach
which provides insights into how species assemble and interact in a
community; (2) a lineage based approach which focuses on how species
adapt, diversity, or decline over time. We will integrate these two
approaches by using a system of age-structured biological communities on
the youngest island of Hawaii and comparing these to communities on the
next older island of Maui. Within Hawaii Island, lineages of organisms
are actively diversifying, while the community and food web contexts in
which they are embedded are changing with the development of their
habitats. The system is relatively simple ecologically, but importantly
it represents an environmental chronosequence, allowing for a
"space-for-time" substitution. The project (part of NSF's "Dimensions in
Biodiversity"
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=125495&org=BIO&from=news )
will look at priority, sequence, and associated interaction strengths
among members of a community as it develops, and hence how biodiversity
is generated, assembled, and lost.
Students interested in any one of the following are encouraged to apply:
(1) macroecological metrics of diversity and abundance of species and
how these might change over time; (2) dynamics of predator-prey or other
interactions between species; (3) evolutionary adaptation and
speciation. Data to be analyzed will include molecular, morphological,
ecological, and/or behavioral characters, and will involve
macroecological, macroevolutionary, and population genetic and
phylogenetic analyses. A single student will focus on one aspect of the
project, though interest in the integration between ecological and
evolutionary approaches is encouraged.
Project PIs at UC Berkeley are:
Rosemary Gillespie <[email protected]>, John Harte
<[email protected]>, Neo Martinez <[email protected]>, and Patrick
O'Grady <[email protected]> in the Department of
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM); and Rasmus Nielsen
<[email protected]> in the Department of Integrative Biology
(IB).
Other PIs are Dan Gruner (U. Maryland, [email protected]), Don Price (U.
Hawaii Hilo, [email protected]), Dan Rabosky (U, Michigan,
[email protected]) and Kerry Shaw (Cornell, [email protected]).
Students interested in these positions are encouraged to email one of
the PIs for more information.
Applications to UC Berkeley must be received by Dec 1, 2012. For details
see:
http://ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/graduate-programs/application-information/
for applications to ESPM; and
http://ib.berkeley.edu/grad/admissions/index.php for applications to
IB. For grad programs at the other institutions, please contact the
appropriate PI.
--
Rosemary G. Gillespie,
Professor & Director, Essig Museum of Entomology,
University of California Berkeley,
Office: 221 Wellman Hall
Mail: 130 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114
Tel 510-642-3445
email: [email protected]
http://nature.berkeley.edu/~gillespie/
http://essig.berkeley.edu/
.
--
Daniel S. Gruner, Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology
4112 Plant Sciences Bldg
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742 U.S.A.
(o) 301-405-3957 (f) 301-314-9290
[email protected]
http://grunerlab.umd.edu
http://sercblog.si.edu/?cat=95
http://kipuka.weebly.com/
