General information
Offer title : Postdoctoral researcher in paleoecology (M/F) (H/F)
Reference : UMR5602-FLOMAZ-003
Number of position : 1
Workplace : TOULOUSE
Date of publication : 18 November 2024
Type of Contract : Researcher in FTC
Contract Period : 12 months
Expected date of employment : 3 February 2025
Proportion of work : Full Time
Remuneration : between €2,991 and €4,166 gross per month depending on experience.
Desired level of education : Doctorate
Experience required : Indifferent
Section(s) CN : 31 – Humans and environments: evolution, interactions
Missions
In the framework of the PEPR FairCarboN project Deep-C, we offer a one-year PostDoc position in modelling land-cover change at watershed-scale.
Project Overview
Deep-C brings together a consortium of experimentalists and modelers to explore the coupled carbon (C) cycling in lakes and their watershed at centennial to millennial time scales. In particular, we are interested in how changes in climate and land use affect the C cycling in watersheds, and through changes in deliveries of water, sediments, carbon and nutrients also the C cycling in the connected lakes. Analysis of lake sediment cores will allow for reconstructing changes in land cover and erosions rates over hundreds to thousands of years. Models will be used to reconstruct land-cover change in the surrounding of pilot sites, to reproduce the evolution of soil erosion, sediment, and carbon transfers in those sites, to quantify the effects of land use and climate change on this evolution, and to extrapolate findings to regional, continental, and finally global scales.
Objectives
The postdoc will focus on past vegetation using pollen data archived in sediment cores retrieved from target lakes in mountains areas (Alps, Pyrenees, and Jura). As a postdoc, you will:
• Compile, review, harmonize existing pollen data and complete pollen analysis on target sites
• Reconstruct the history of plant composition and abundance.
The candidate will produce maps of regional landscape openness and types of forest cover over the last 5000 years as a background to the local reconstructions for target sites. This will be achieved using pollen databases, new pollen cores, and the landscape reconstruction algorithm (REVEALS and LOVE models) to estimate regional and local past land cover.
This postdoc position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to our understanding of historical land-cover/erosion interactions and to feed/develop predictive models that can inform future land management and conservation strategies.
Activities
Responsibilities
• Data mining: Compile, review and complete pollen data and age-depth models from existing pollen sequences available in three target areas (Alps, Pyrenees, Jura)
• Data Analysis: Perform regional and local analyses of past land-cover (plant, group of land-cover types) using pollen databases and new pollen analysis
• Modeling and Statistics: Utilize GIS, R statistical environment, and other tools for pollen-based modeling (REVEALS and LOVE models) and statistical analysis.
• Collaboration: Work closely with other post-docs and researchers involved in the DEEP-C project.
• Dissemination: Publish research findings in scientific journals and present results at conferences.
Skills
We seek an excellent, highly motivated candidate with a PhD in (paleo)ecology, Environmental Science, Conservation Science or related fields. We expect a robust background in pollen-based modelling (especially in REVEALS and LOVE models) and in statistics. Mandatory skills include a sound background in geographic information systems, statistics and the R statistical environment. The candidate should also have field and laboratory experience in pollen analysis.
Work Context
Work Context
Supervisor’s team
Main supervisor:
Florence Mazier, Department of Environmental Geography, GEODE UMR5602, University of Toulouse, France
Scientific consortium:
– Erwan Messager- Environnement, Dynamics and territories of Mountains, University of Savoie Mont-Blanc
– Laurent Marquer, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
Salary and conditions
In accordance with national regulations. The position comes with full social and health benefits.
Location
The place of employment and work is the palaeoecological research group of the Department of Environmental Geography, at Toulouse Jean Jaurès University (https://www.univ-tlse2.fr/home/), France. The group currently includes seven senior researchers, two research engineers, one technician, five PhD students and four Post-Docs. Environmental Science includes palaeoecology, geoarchaeology, environmental geology and chemistry. The focus of the palaeoecological group is on Holocene landscape dynamics and relationships between vegetation/landscapes, human activity, metallurgy, pollution history, and climate change over century to millennial time scales. The most unique expertise of the group includes pollen-vegetation modelling (pollen-based quantitative reconstructions of past vegetation cover/landscape openness/deforestation), sedimentology analysis for reconstruction of past human occupation and pollution, and charcoal analysis for inference of past fire history, metallurgy, and land-use.
Additional Information
Application
Are you interested in this position? Please apply via the application button and upload your curriculum vitae and cover letter before 15/12/2024 17:00.
Key dates
Application deadline: 10 December 2024, 17:00
Evaluation, interviews and selection process: 16- 18 December 2024
Successful candidates informed: 19 December 2024
Postdoc is employed and ready to start: 1 February 2025
Vacancy questions
If you have any questions regarding this vacancy, you may contact:
Name: Dr. Florence Mazier
E-mail: florence.mazier@univ-tlse2.fr
The position is located in a sector under the protection of scientific and technical potential (PPST), and therefore requires, in accordance with the regulations, that your arrival is authorized by the competent authority of the MESR.
