1.5 yrs postdoc fellowship offer in climate change impact (France) ~ Bioblogia.net

22 de enero de 2015

1.5 yrs postdoc fellowship offer in climate change impact (France)

The excellence Labex of the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (L-IPSL) offers a 1.5 years postdoctoral position.
Title: Towards improved proxies calibration for corals’ Paleoclimatic reconstructions: Case study of the impact of seawater acidification on coral and boring microflora,


*Context:* Global climate change and ocean acidification are one of the
most pressing issues in Earth Sciences today. This is supported by the
growing scientific evidence that changes in ocean chemistry due to
anthropogenic input are already occurring and will continue in the next
decades to centuries at a rate that will depend on future CO2 emissions.
Temperature and carbonate chemistry of the oceans are critical parameters
that not only control chemical and physical processes, but also a wide
range of biogeochemical processes that are important for the development
and survival of marine biota such as corals, the main framebuilders of
coral reef ecosystems. These organisms are highly threatened by global
change and ocean acidification and represents major eco-systemic resources
which support the survival of 1/15 of the world population. Recent studies
suggest that net reef dissolution will occur by 2100 as corals will calcify
less and as the microboring flora, one of the main agents of carbonate
dissolution, will be stimulated.

Geochemical proxies preserved in the carbonate skeleton of marine
calcifying organisms such as corals provide a unique tool to reconstruct
changes in seawater environmental parameters since the beginning of the
industrial era. Many parameters however might impair high-resolution
time-series like vital effects and environmental stressors, which can bias
geochemical signatures in corals and therewith paleo-reconstructions. It is
thus essential to identify the biogeochemical processes involved in the
incorporation of trace elements and isotopic signatures at the early stage
of the aragonitic skeleton formation in corals as well as possible
diagenesis effects. For this purpose, interactions between corals,
microborers, and their environment need to be better assessed.

*Description of the work:* The Post-Doc fellow will develop a mechanistic
understanding of elemental  and isotopic composition of coral skeleton -
with special emphasis on Li/Mg, Sr/Ca and δ11B -  at different stages of
coral life cycles. The recruited Post-Doc will subsequently study a coral
core from the western equatorial Pacific Ocean covering environmental
changes from pre-industrial (low atmospheric CO2) to  post-industrial (high
atmospheric CO2) era. The project will also provide a comprehensive
calibration of corals’ geochemical signatures which could be later extended
to deep and cold water corals and other calcifiers such as foraminifera.

The recruited Post-doctorate fellow will participate to analytical
development using LA-MC-ICP-MS Neptune.

*Supervision team:* The work will be conducted under the main supervision
of D. Dissard and A. Tribollet (UMR LOCEAN) and in close cooperation with
researchers/engineers from LSCE (E. Douville, D. Blamart and F. Thil).
Other scientists from LOCEAN, LSCE and GEOPS laboratory will also be
involved in this research project. The analyses will be undertaken at
LOCEAN and LSCE. The candidate will share his time between the two
laboratories involved.

*Duration and salary:* The post-doctorate will be recruited for 18 months
starting in early 2015 with a gross monthly salary around 2500 euros,
commensurate with experience. This includes social services and health
insurance.

*Contact for applications:* Applications should include a CV, a statement
of research interests, relevant publications and the names of at least two
references including e-mail addresses and telephone numbers. Applications
will be sent to Delphine Dissard and Aline Tribollet (
Delphine.Dissard@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr, Aline.Tribollet@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr).

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