NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center (Woods Hole, MA) is seeking a Postdoctoral fellow to undertake comparative analyses of ecosystem dynamics on the U.S. Northeast Continental Shelf.
Background. The Northeast continental shelf large marine ecosystem is a dynamic, highly productive and intensively studied system supporting a constellation of ecosystem goods and services. The region supports some of the most lucrative fisheries in the nation. The system has undergone profound structural changes as a result of heavy exploitation by distant water and domestic fleets. This history of strong perturbation offers an important opportunity to study the factors affecting the stability and resilience of marine systems with the goal of identifying key vulnerabilities to stressors. Distinct ecoregions of this system differing in key structural elements including biodiversity can be identified and used to test hypotheses concerning the determinants of ecosystem response to natural and anthropogenic disturbance. These issues lie at the heart of the newly implemented Comparative Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Organization (CAMEO) program, a joint NOAA-NSF initiative. The analysis will also involve comparisons between the Northeast Shelf and the California Current large marine ecosystems in collaboration with colleagues from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the University of New Hampshire, and Boston University. The work involve the application of statistical models (nonlinear time series analysis) and numerical models using the MIMES modeling framework, FELLOWSHIP DETAILS: The post doctoral fellowship is offered through the National Research Council and will be located in Woods Hole, MA at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NOAA Fisheries). Funding is for 18-24 months. Interested candidates must apply through the National Research Council's program. Proposal deadline is February 1, 2009. Position will begin shortly after the proposal review process is complete.
