PH.D. POSITION IN RESTORATION ECOLOGY AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY, FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, USA. A Graduate Research Assistantship is available for a Ph.D. candidate to work on establishing vegetation on a constructed fen in the oil sands region of Alberta, CANADA. Northern Alberta contains the largest deposit of oil sands in the world, and it is being mined using open-pit techniques. These activities disturb large land areas of upland forest and peatland ecosystems. Our project, near Fort McMurray, is developing, implementing and evaluating techniques for establishing peat-forming vegetation (bryophytes and vascular plants) on a self-sustaining constructed fen. Oil industry partners and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada are sponsoring this collaborative project between Colorado State University and three Canadian Universities. The successful candidate would contribute to and conduct research on the vascular plant component of this program, evaluating techniques and ecological processes that facilitate or limit plant establishment and growth, with the goal of achieving a continuous vegetation cover and peat accumulation. The candidate would work closely with hydrologists, geochemists, engineers, and ecologists studying this experimental ecosystem, and there will be many opportunities for cross- disciplinary integration and international collaboration. Applicants must have a MS in ecology or an allied field, and experience working with vascular plants. Experience in plant sampling at the individual and population scale, statistics, ecophysiology, and above and below ground production are desirable. Experience in restoration programs is also important. The student would be admitted to Colorado State University through the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, with Dr. David J. Cooper as advisor and mentor, and be housed in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship. The assistantship pays 12-month salary, tuition, travel and field expenses, housing during the summer in Fort McMurray, and participation in conferences and workshops. To apply send a letter of interest explicitly stating your qualifications and a current CV via email, to Dr. Cooper, [email protected]
