A fully funded Ph. D. fellowship on the evolution of plastid genomes in parasitic plants is available from January 1^st, 2015 or soon thereafter in the Evolutionary Genomics group at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The fellowship will be an integral part of an interdisciplinary 3-year research project entitled: ”The Fate of Organellar Genomes in Parasitic Plants” financed by the Danish Council for Independent Research│Natural Sciences. The research project has an international scope with collaborators in the USA and Canada.

Project area

The Ph. D. student will primarily investigate the relationships between genome evolution (e.g., gene contents and genome structure) of plastids and levels of parasitism in seed plants in a phylogenomic context.

Primary supervisors are Gitte Petersen and Ole Seberg, The Natural History Museum of Denmark.

For the full text and procedures See: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/jobs/456813-phd-fellowship-in-evolutionary-genomics-at-the-natural-history-museum-of-denmark

Doktorandplats i Tyskland:

We are looking for a motivated candidate with MSc-level background in evolutionary biology, bioinformatics or closely related fields for a three year DFG funded project based at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz, Germany. The candidate will test factors proposed as drivers of the high plant diversity of the Cape Floristic Region, using coalescence-based phylogenetic inference methods on a group of closely related Erica species. Excellent lab skills, including experience with ‘next generation’ DNA sequencing technologies and the related bioinformatics techniques, and good spoken and written English are essential. For more information contact Michael Pirie <pirie@uni-mainz.de> or visit https://sites.google.com/site/mikepirie/phd-position-ngs-cape-erica

Please help advertising this position to all potential candidates:

The project “Phylogenetic and biogeographic analysis of the genus Pavonia (plant family Malvaceae) using gene capture and Next Generation Sequencing” seeks to answer the following questions: How are the species of Pavonia related? Are the polyploids in the genus of hybrid origin, and thus is the phylogeny a network? Is there a pattern in the timing of when polyploidy arose? What is the biogeographic history of the genus? What factors (e.g., geographic, edaphic, biotic) can explain the high number of species in the neotropics?

There is scope within the project for significant methodological development, probably in collaboration with theoretical systematists/mathematicians.

Read more and apply at:

http://www.gu.se/english/about_the_university/announcements-in-the-job-application-portal/?languageId=0&disableRedirect=true&id=19144&Dnr=588435&Type=E

or http://antonelli-lab.net

Best wishes

Bernard Pfeil and Alexandre Antonelli

——————————————————————–

Dr. Alexandre Antonelli

Associate professor, Scientific curator

http://antonelli-lab.net

Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences

University of Gothenburg

Carl Skottsbergs gata 22B, 413 19 Göteborg, Sweden

E-mail:  alexandre.antonelli@bioenv.gu.se

Two open positions at the University of Turku (Finland) in the project ”Mapping Amazonian biodiversity at multiple scales by integrating geology and ecology”. The postdoc position is for two years (application deadline 31 January) and the PhD student position until the end of 2017 (application deadline 14 February).

Details can be found at

http://www.utu.fi/fi/Yliopisto/yliopisto-tyonantajana/avoimet-tehtavat/Sivut/home.aspx

—

Hanna Tuomisto

Department of Biology

FI-20014 University of Turku, FINLAND

e-mail hanna.tuomisto@utu.fi

office +358-2-3335634

http://www3.sci.utu.fi/sivustot/amazon/

http://www3.sci.utu.fi/biologia/en

Highly motivated and skilled applicants from all countries are invited to apply for a post-doc opportunity in the group of Alexandre Antonelli (http://antonelli-lab.net) at the University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Sweden, in close collaboration with researchers in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the USA. You will participate in a dynamic and international research environment aimed at disentangling the evolutionary processes underlying biological diversity and its future.

Work tasks

You will help selecting fossil calibration points for dating higher-level phylogenetic trees of all animals and plants. These fossils will be linked to the bioinformatic pipeline in SUPERSMART (Self-Updating Platform for Estimating Rates of Speciation and Migration, Ages and Relationships of Taxa; see www.supersmart-project.org). You will then use time-calibrated phylogenies to test for correlations between age, species richness, range sizes and extinction threats; temperature fluctuations and changes in diversification rates; among other empirical tests and analyses.

Evaluation criteria

Requirements: Candidates are required to have a PhD and at least two scientific publications and solid experience handling phylogenetic trees. You must also be fluent in English and have excellent communication skills.

Other advantageous skills: The ideal candidate will also have experience in some or several of the following skills: molecular dating; palaeontology; biogeography; bioinformatics including programming/scripting in R, Python or Perl; statistics; GIS; ecological theory and methods.

We are seeking a candidate who is independent, self-motivated, and interested in the use or development of new methods and approaches, in short, a person willing to go beyond the state-of-the-art in the field. We will attach great importance to personal characteristics and independence in learning and working, creativity and documented productivity.

Starting date, duration and conditions

The position is available immediately or upon agreement. Please note that funding for this particular project is provided by a stipend and is therefore not associated with a formal employment at the University, which will nevertheless provide a working desk and all the working facilities given to regular employees.  The grant (in total SEK 240,000) covers a 1-year full-time working duty. There is the possibility to apply for a 1-year extension. Commuting is a possibility if there are special reasons.

Application

The application should consist of a single pdf and include: 1) A short letter with the applicant’s motivation for the application that describes how the applicant meets the selection criteria (max. one A4 page); 2) A list of relevant qualifications (CV; max 5 pages); 3) Complete list of publications, including submitted and accepted manuscripts.

Deadline for applications

Please submit your application, or let me know your interest in the position, as soon as possible. The evaluation process will begin on April 17^th. The position will be filled as soon as an appropriate candidate is chosen.

Additional information and enquiries

Associate Professor Alexandre Antonelli. University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences. E-mail alexandre.antonelli@bioenv.gu.se

TWO NEW POSITIONS IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Available at http://antonelli-lab.net (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Closing date: February 28, 2013

1) PhD Position. Fixed-term employment, four years

You will test competing hypotheses of diversification for explaining the outstanding diversity in tropical America (including soil specialisation, temperature increases, polyploidy, habitat shifts, biome conservatism and range expansion). To achieve this goal you will carry out extensive fieldwork in Latin America, especially the tropical Andes and Amazonia, to collect plant and soil samples. You will then produce molecular data using next-generation sequencing techniques. Your analyses will include estimation of phylogenies, divergence times, species trees from gene trees, diversification rates, species distribution modelling, and biogeographic reconstructions.

The choice of plant group will depend on the candidate’s previous experience and interests (e.g. during the Masters project). Ideally, the study group should have a wide Neotropical distribution with a centre of species diversity in northern South America, have been recently revised taxonomically, be already relatively well collected, and included in phylogenetic analyses. Please indicate your suggestion of plant group in the motivation letter (this is recommended but not mandatory).

Good communication skills (written and spoken) in English are necessary. Priority will be given to those candidates who have co-authored at least one scientific publication. Fieldwork experience in the tropics, experience working with molecular phylogenetics and/or next-generation sequence data, and language skills in Spanish and/or Portuguese is advantageous. We are seeking a candidate who is independent, self-motivated, and interested in the use or development of new methods and approaches, in short, a person willing to go beyond the state-of-the-art in the field. We will attach great importance to personal characteristics and independence in learning and working, creativity and documented productivity.

For more information and on-line application click HERE 

2) Post-doc. Fixed-term employment, two years

You will carry out research focused on speciation mechanisms in Amazonian plants, particularly palms. Although sympatric speciation is recognized as a driver of ”island” biodiversity (Howea palms, Cichlid fish, apple maggots), it remains to be discovered how it contributes to the mega-biodiversity in Amazonia. The understory palm Geonoma macrostachys is highly suited for this study because significant progress has been made to quantify and understand its complex variation. Responsibilities include extensive fieldwork across western Amazonia (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru); development of next-generation sequence data, analyses and publications; and the training and supervision of graduate students.

Highest priority will be given to candidates with a strong publication record who have fieldwork experience in the tropics and experience with next-generation sequence data. Due to intensive fieldwork in Latin America good language skills in Spanish and/or Portuguese is necessary as well as good communication skills (written and spoken) in English.

A strong background in phylogenetics, biogeography, and species delimitation as well as research experience with palms (taxonomy, phylogenetics, and/or ecology) is meritorious.

We are seeking a candidate who is independent, self-motivated, and interested in the use or development of new methods and approaches, in short, a person willing to go beyond the state-of-the-art in the field. We will attach great importance to personal characteristics and independence in learning and working, creativity and documented productivity.

For more information and on-line application click HERE

Best wishes

Fixed term for 24 months, available from 1 February 2013

This post is part of the NERC funded project ‘Niche Evolution of South American Trees and its Consequences’. The project aims to make a fundamental advance in our knowledge of the processes that have created patterns of diversity in the tropics by gaining a better understanding of the evolutionary timing and rate of biome switching in plant lineages. Such patterns of biome switching are not only of interest for studies of plant diversification, but also have far-reaching implications for understanding forest ecology and the conservation of evolutionary (phylogenetic) diversity as a result of land-use or climate change.

The project focuses on the rain forest, seasonally dry forest and savanna biomes of South America, and the postdoc will take a leading role in fieldwork, data generation, data analysis and paper-writing.

The project aims to:

• integrate plot and community survey data from all three biomes from a wide variety of sources to create a dataset of floristic composition unparalleled in its ecological breadth and detail, spanning ~1300 sites. We will work at on all tree genera and at the species level in Leguminosae (the legume family) across all plots
• quantify the climatic and edaphic niches of: (i) all adequately sampled genera; and (ii) all adequately sampled species of Leguminosae
• reconstruct phylogenetic relationships of: (i) all genera found at all inventory sites in all biomes; and (ii) of species of Leguminosae found at >10 plots across all biomes, using existing and de novosequence data

These datasets will then be used to understanding the timing, rate and nature of biome switching and niche evolution in South American trees.

You will have a completed or soon to be completed (by start of the post) PhD with a background in plant evolution, systematics, ecology, or biogeography. You will need to have fieldwork experience and good skills in quantitative scientific methods, allied to good communication skills. An ability to work in an international team will also be needed, along with some level of fluency in Spanish and/or Portuguese.

The work will be based in the UK at Leeds (first 9 months) and Edinburgh (subsequent 15 months) although you will work closely with all partners involved in the project in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. The first part of the post will focus mainly on fieldwork and data collection and the second part principally on data analysis and writing.

Further details concerning the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh can be found at http://www.rbge.org.uk/ and for the School of Geography, University of Leeds at: www.geog.leeds.ac.uk.

Salary £31,000- £34,000 p.a.

Informal enquiries may be made to Prof Toby Pennington (t.pennington@rbge.ac.uk; +44 (0)131 248 2818), Dr Kyle Dexter (kgdexter@gmail.com, +44 (0) 131 248 2964) and/or Dr Tim Baker (T.R.Baker@leeds.ac.uk+44 (0)113 343 8352).

A job description and person specification can be downloaded from www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/vacancies.

To apply, please send a covering letter explaining your suitability for the post and a CV as well as a completed equal opportunities questionnaire to the HR Team at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 3LR or by e-mail to at recruitment@rbge.org.uk. Applications should be received no later than Monday, 17 December 2012.

If you have not heard from us by 31 January 2013, please assume your application has been unsuccessful. No recruitment agencies please.

Two new PhD positions on plant-related macroecology at the University of Aarhus, Denmark:

1: The macroecology of functional diversity in the palms and its link to mammal diversity:

http://talent.au.dk/phd/scienceandtechnology/opencalls/specific-projects/the-macroecology-of-functional-diversity-in-the-palms-and-its-link-to-mammal-diversity/

2: Paleoclimate and the phylogenetic and functional structure of forest tree communities worldwide: http://talent.au.dk/phd/scienceandtechnology/opencalls/specific-projects/paleoclimate-and-the-phylogenetic-and-functional-structure-of-forest-tree-communities-worldwide/