Post-doc position in Evolutionary Ecology (France)

“Adaptation and Resilience of Spatial Ecological Networks to human-induced changes”
Anthropogenic environmental changes increasingly threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services, thus kindling a societal demand for predictions that ecology as a science has yet to answer. Available models are poorly suited to predicting the ecological effects of such changes because they ignore variation in species’ niche due to ecological interactions and evolution.

Without understanding the functioning of ecological networks and how they are shaped by evolution, it is indeed difficult to predict how changes of the environment will cascade through ecosystems and make species traits evolve. Understanding the dynamics of ecological networks is a dual goal, both for fundamental research and for building informed programs on sustainable ecosystem services and
species conservation. Accounting for species interactions and evolution to understand the consequences of global changes is the critical question we want to tackle through the post doc we propose here.

In this context, the post-doctoral fellow will develop models linking
the coevolution of traits to the structure of ecological networks (both
trophic and mutualistic networks). Such models will especially account
for spatial aspects, i.e. heterogeneous landscapes and dispersal of
individuals among habitat patches, and will focus on the structure of
ecological communities emerging from evolutionary processes acting at
the landscape scale. Modelling will be based on adaptive dynamics and/or
theoretical quantitative genetics methods.

Application Process

This job is supported by a larger ANR project ARSENIC (2015-2019)
involving a network of 8 different labs, most of them in France. More
precisely, this position will involve collaborations between the Ecology,
Evolution & Paleontology lab in Lille and of the Institute of Ecology
and Environmental Sciences in Paris.

The post-doctoral fellow will work at IEES Paris (Institute of Ecology
and Environmental Sciences of Paris). IEES is a new laboratory that
merges different aspects of ecology, such as evolutionary ecology,
community ecology and functional ecology. The post-doc fellow would be
part of the team “Ecology and Evolution of Interaction Networks”
(team leader: Nicolas Loeuille).

The post-doctoral position will particularly focus on the theoretical
developments proposed above. We welcome applications from candidates
with a PhD in ecology, evolutionary biology or applied mathematics, with
good skills in ecological modelling, theoretical ecology and evolutionary
ecology. Skills in game theory, adaptive dynamics or quantitative genetics
modelling will be particularly appreciated.

The position is funded for two years. Salary depends on experience (eg,
about 2200€ two years after PhD). Applications will be considered
until the position is filled.

To apply, send a CV and a letter expressing why the project interests
you to Nicolas Loeuille (nicolas.loeuille@upmc.fr) and François
Massol (francois.massol@univ-lille1.fr), and have two researchers you
collaborated with send us reference letters.