Postdoctoral Opportunities
Research Technician in Ecosystem Ecology (Still open: June 16 2016)
Research Technician job duties/qualifications:
Successful candidate will be responsible for the installation and day-to-day operation of instrumentation in a piñon-juniper woodland located within 3 hours of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The research involves girdling either piñon or juniper to assess the mechanisms controlling the site response following mortality, with particular emphasis on the changes in plant and soil water status. The successful candidate will participate in establishing the research plots, installing instrumentation to gather pre-treatment data, implementation of the treatments and post-treatment measurements. Once the site is fully instrumented, the candidate will maintain all systems and will work with postdoctoral and graduate researchers to make field measurements associated with this project, including measurements of plant growth, physiology and water relations, and soil moisture content. The candidate will participate in data management, data analysis, and the preparation of peer-reviewed publications of research findings. Preference will be given to someone with demonstrated proficiency: in:
1) heat ratio sapflow methods, measurement of plant water potential, 2) datalogger programming; 3) repair and maintenance of experimental infrastructure; 4) operating and maintaining solar powered systems; 5) managing, summarizing and analyzing field and laboratory data, particularly large data sets; 6) supervision of students in field settings and 7) ability to work long hours in the field when necessary
Successful candidate will be responsible for the installation and day-to-day operation of instrumentation in a piñon-juniper woodland located within 3 hours of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The research involves girdling either piñon or juniper to assess the mechanisms controlling the site response following mortality, with particular emphasis on the changes in plant and soil water status. The successful candidate will participate in establishing the research plots, installing instrumentation to gather pre-treatment data, implementation of the treatments and post-treatment measurements. Once the site is fully instrumented, the candidate will maintain all systems and will work with postdoctoral and graduate researchers to make field measurements associated with this project, including measurements of plant growth, physiology and water relations, and soil moisture content. The candidate will participate in data management, data analysis, and the preparation of peer-reviewed publications of research findings
Applications are only accepted at UNM jobs (not by email to PIs). Research Scientist 1 job posting 0834545
https://unmjobs.unm.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1465994766531
Any questions should be directed to Dr. Marcy Litvak (mlitvak@unm.edu) or Dr. William Pockman (pockman@unm.edu). Applications will be considered until the position is filled. Ability to start by July 2016 strongly preferred.
Project: This research is designed to improve our ability to predict the impact of large numbers of trees dying in semi-arid forested ecosystems. Forest mortality caused by drought has recently increased on every forested continent and is now recognized as a global phenomenon. The study focuses on piñon-juniper woodlands, the third largest biome in the U.S. In the Southwestern US, higher temperatures and decreased precipitation have increased drought severity, reducing tree health, and triggering widespread regional forest mortality across the region. This research is motivated by previous research showing that piñon mortality unexpectedly triggers one or more mechanisms that lead these woodlands to become both hotter and drier, potentially altering the environmental conditions that control future vegetation and ecosystem recovery. These surprising results challenge our expectations that that more water would be available for those trees that survived in forests following disturbance. Drought-induced mortality is predicted to increase globally in the coming decades. This work will contribute key data on the specific roles of woody plants in regulating water availability and ecosystem services in water-limited semiarid ecosystems when large numbers of trees die. The modeling will provide explicit predictions of biomes that are vulnerable, or likely to be vulnerable, as climate changes, and key environmental factors that increase that vulnerability. We are looking for one postdoctoral researcher and one research technician to start as soon as possible. The positions will both be based out of University of New Mexico, but will require several days spent each week at the field site.