PhD Studentship in Predictive Ecology
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies
University of Zürich
Predicting the consequences of environmental
change requires an understanding of their effects
across multiple levels of ecological
organisation: individual, population, community,
and ecosystem. Also required is an understanding
of how effects at one level of organisation
create knock-on effects at other levels of
organisation. For example, how changes in individual behaviour
translate into a change in population dynamics.
Laboratory-based experiments with communities of
aquatic microorganisms (e.g. ciliates) provide an
excellent test bed for studying environmental
change across levels of ecological organisation.
Long-term experiments (many generations of the
dominant organisms) can be carried out during
quite short experiments, and observations can be
made across levels of ecological organisation.
Carefully constructing communities in terms of
species composition, i.e. containing few to many
species, short to long food chains, and low to
high trophic diversity will further allow to
manipulate ecological complexity, as found in
natural systems. Mathematical models fitted to
the observed data can be used to link
observations across levels of organisation and
make predictions. Joined together, these features
allow for thorough, novel, and exciting research
about the predictability of ecological dynamics in changing environments.
The PhD is part of a SNF funded research project
concerning the predictability of temperature
effects on ecological dynamics. The PhD student
will conduct a series of experiments using
microbial communities under controlled laboratory
settings. Communities will be subjected to a
combination of temperature and nutrient
availability treatments and monitored with the
help of automated video techniques
(www.bemovi.info). Additional data collected by
the student will help him/her to parameterize a
process-based model of the community. To evaluate
the ecological predictability of temperature
effects, we then confront model predictions with
data from the community experiment. The PhD
student will be guided and assisted by the
postdoctoral position in the project, whose focus
otherwise is on conceptual work and synthesis.
The SNF project is joined in the Predictive
Ecology Group by numerous related projects
researching ecological predictability.
The PhD will be jointly supervised by Prof. Owen
Petchey and Dr. Frank Pennekamp, in the
Predictive Ecology Group of the Institute of
Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at
the University of Zürich, Switzerland. Funding is
available for at least 3.5 years. We look for
motivated candidates interested in combining
experimental work with theoretical developments;
prior laboratory experience with microbial
systems is an advantage, but not obligatory.
Applicants must have a Masters Level Degree in
Ecology or a closely related subject, and should
provide as a single pdf a CV, including the names
and contact details of three academic referees,
and a cover letter including relevant information
(e.g., highlighting relevant previous experience and interests).
Applications and enquiries should be send to
frank.pennek...@ieu.uzh.ch or
owen.petc...@ieu.uzh.ch. Applicants will be
considered till the position is filled. We invite
outstanding applicants to visit.
For more information
Owen Petchey (www.ieu.uzh.ch/staff/professors/petchey.html)
Frank Pennekamp (www.ieu.uzh.ch/staff/postdocs/fpennekamp.html)
Predictive Ecology Group (www.ieu.uzh.ch/research/ecology/extinction.html)