POST-DOCTORAL LEVEL POSITIONS

  IN POPULATION/COMMUNITY ECOLOGY AND ECOLOGICAL MODELING

INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTATIONAL EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

Consideration of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Two 2-year postdoctoral positions are available for highly qualified individuals to join a multidisciplinary team of scientists on a study that seeks to detail the physical and biological factors that constrain the restoration of river ecosystems. Our overarching goal is to better understand how restoration practices influence the recovery of native and endangered species of plants and animals. The successful applicants will be expected to develop vibrant research programs focused on how the formation of physical channel processes influence habitat use and survival of anadromous salmon. They will also be expected to link their studies to ongoing research by other team members and government scientists that are studying the dynamics of riparian and floodplain vegetation, benthic algae and macroinvertebrates, and non-salmonid fishes in the restored reach. One position is for primarily empirical work on salmonids, although the ability to comprehend quantitative models is essential. The second position is for modeling, including bioenergetic models of fish and food web models of the invertebrate community. The two positions are expected to work closely together, with the modeler helping to define the scope of key quantities to measure and the empiricist helping to define the key qualitative features of the models. The positions are available immediately, offer full benefits, and a salary of $43,020.

The restoration site is a 2.5-km reach of the Merced River near Merced, CA, and the research is funded by the CALFED program of the California Bay Delta Authority. The location and size of the project provides an unusual and highly-valuable opportunity to document the evolution of channel and floodplain processes at a large-scale, and to perform manipulative experiments that identify factors limiting the recovery of aquatic food-webs. UCSB’s research team consists of Tom Dunne (Principal Investigator, geomorphology), Frank Davis (terrestrial ecology), Hunter Lenihan (invertebrate ecology), Brad Cardinale (food-web ecology), Bruce Kendall (modeling of fish ecology and behavior), and is being performed in collaboration with Michael Healey (fish ecology) from the University of British Columbia, and Kevin Faulkenberry (hydraulics) from the California Department of Water Resources.

Candidates for the first position should have a Ph.D. with specialization in aquatic ecology, population or community ecology or related field. Knowledge of fish biology is a requisite, particularly of salmonids. Strong field skills are required, and candidates that have experience in population modeling and/or bioenergetics will be given priority. Candidates for the second position should have a Ph.D. with a specialization in ecological modeling. Candidates with experience in population/life history modeling, food web models, or bioenergetic models will be given priority. The initial appointments are for 2 years. Consideration of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Please send a cover letter stating your research accomplishments and interests, a curriculum vitae, representative publications, and three letters of recommendation by email to:

Bradley J. Cardinale, Ph.D.

Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology

University of California-Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Email: cardinale@lifesci.ucsb.edu

www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/faculty/cardinale

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

Posted: August 2, 2007