A research ecologist position is available at the USGS Canyonlands Research Station in Moab, UT. The selected scientist would be responsible for developing, promoting, and guiding a research program that focuses on the role of soils in the structure, function, condition, resistance, and resilience of ecosystems to a range of future conditions. This would include and emphasize work on climate change and resource management actions and the interaction between these two factors. Work should give emphasis to deserts of the Southwest, and should integrate and synthesize across multiple disciplines, temporal and spatial scales, and levels of ecological organization. Particular emphasis is placed on research that could help inform management-driven questions spanning the disciplines of soil and plant science at local, regional, national, and global scales. This research will require an integration of multiple aspects of ecology, biology, geology, soil science, geomorphology, and natural history, as well as numerous taxa and communities at many geographic locales. The following foci are especially desirable: how do soil characteristics, soil moisture, and geomorphic settings influence plant performance, plant community distributions and the functioning, resistance, and resilience of plant communities to potential future conditions; what indicators and assessments of dryland soils and ecosystem conditions can be successfully used for future predictions of ecosystem function and management; what are the interactions of climate change and other environmental factors on exotic plant invasion; how do climate variability and land use synergistically affect dryland ecosystems; and what is the efficacy of different restoration and vegetation manipulation techniques. This position offers an exciting opportunity to build a research program with the USGS and to help elucidate how dryland ecosystems function, both now and in the future.
Salary will be commensurate with experience, and a Ph.D. is required. Interested individuals should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and the name and contact information of three references to Jayne Belnap ([email protected]) and Sasha Reed ([email protected] or mailed to 2290 S.W. Resource Blvd., Moab, UT 84532). Electronic applications are preferred. Please dont hesitate to contact Dr. Sasha Reed ([email protected]) with any questions.
