PhD scholarships in community ecology and functional ecology Perth, Western Australia
We offer up to three PhD projects with full scholarships in the project 'Community completeness in monitoring of post-mining restoration success'. The project is a collaboration between researchers from The University of Western Australia, Murdoch University, University of Tartu, Estonia and University of Camerino, Italy, as well as two mining industry partners - Iluka Resources Ltd and Alcoa in Australia Ltd. This collaborative research between ecologists, statisticians, computer scientists and restoration practitioners will investigate why particular plant species and plant functions are absent from post-mining vegetation, using the ecological concepts of species pools, dark diversity, and community completeness. The PhD projects will be tightly linked, and the successful PhD candidates (and their supervisors) will be working as a team. We will use data from vegetation characterised by contrasting community assembly processes, including species-rich kwongan shrublands and Jarrah forests of Western Australia, myall woodlands and Nullarbor scrub vegetation of South Australian semi-deserts, and species-poor salt-marsh vegetation of South Africa. Topics: * Dark-diversity and community completeness in natural and rehabilitated vegetation, focusing on patterns of species pools and other taxon-based indices in spatial-scaling and phylogenetic contexts * Dark-diversity and community completeness in natural and rehabilitated vegetation, focusing on patterns of functional trait spaces pools and other functional indices in spatial-scaling and trait-nature contexts * Theoretical aspects of community saturation and community completeness in context of contrasting community-assembly scenarios (niche-focused assembly vs. neutral community assembly), using real data sets and modelling approaches. Eligibility Honours or Masters of Science degree or equivalent qualifying for admission to a PhD programme at the University of Western Australia or Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. Suitable areas of study include Ecological Sciences or Computer Science/Mathematics/Engineering (with strong programming and mathematical skills). How to apply Please email an expression of interest including your CV and academic transcripts to Erik Veneklaas (functional ecology; ecological restoration) and/or Michael Renton (ecological and evolutionary modelling; applied mathematics and statistics). Email addresses: erik.venekl...@uwa.edu.au<mailto:erik.venekl...@uwa.edu.au>; michael.ren...@uwa.edu.au<mailto:michael.ren...@uwa.edu.au> . Collaborators (and potential co-supervisors) in this project are: Ladislav Mucina, Murdoch University, project leader (community ecology; biogeography; data analysis in ecology) Hamid Laga, Murdoch University (computer vision; machine learning; applied mathematics and statistics) Rachel Standish, Murdoch University (community ecology; ecological restoration) Alethea Rea, Murdoch University (statistics and modelling) Mark Dobrowolski, Iluka Resources Ltd (ecological restoration; community ecology; soil science) Lucy Commander, Alcoa in Australia Ltd (ecological restoration; seed ecology) Meelis Pärtel, University of Tartu, Estonia (community and functional ecology; biodiversity science; ecological restoration) Stefano Chelli, University of Camerino, Italy (community and functional ecology; biodiversity science, ecological restoration) To unsubscribe from this list please go to https://community.esa.org/confirm/?u=RhPWqPxFwODKvbkiT32nkIqRrsiSgulp
