Ph.D. position on Ecohydrology

Invitation for the applications for a PhD position in plant-water-interaction. This PhD will promote process understanding regarding the role of vegetation and species diversity for modulating soil properties and water fluxes. One of the main goals is to identify, how to combine measurements and modeling efficiently to extract process understanding and improve earth system models.

Specifically, this research will attempt to better interpret the contribution of vegetation to the overall time variation of soil moisture and water flow. For this we combine intensive measurements (field and lysimeter) in different vegetation with inverse modelling, and data assimilation. At the same time, we investigate during field campaigns with direct measurements, how soil hydraulic properties change with vegetation cover.

The project is part of the Jena Biodiversity Experiment (www.uni-jena.de/biologie/ecology/biodiv), which will be the field experimental site for this project. Part of the work will be conducted in the associated lysimeter experiment at the ECOTRON facility in Montpellier.

This PhD will be conducted within the Junior-Professorship Ecological Modeling (University of Jena). The place of work will be the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, with some research visits at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ and in Montpellier. Payment will be according to the Thuringian civil service (TV-L, 60%), duration is for 3 years.

For this research, a background in environmental sciences (geo-ecology, environmental science, hydrology) would be most suitable.

Please send your applications, including C.V., short letter (including motivation), diploma or master thesis abstract, to the address below (email or mail). Applications will be reviewed starting Mai 20 until the position is filled. For more information, please contact:

Jun-Prof. Dr. Anke Hildebrandt
Max-Planck Insititut für Biogeochemie
Hans-Knöll-Straße. 10
D-07745 Jena

Email: anke.hildebrandt@ufz.de