There is a postdoctoral opening to join a collaborative group conducting large-scale experimental research to understand: 1) How agricultural legacies, contemporary restoration, and their interaction structure plant communities, 2) Controls over the spatial spread of relict understory herbs from remnant woodlands into adjacent post-agricultural woodlands. We particularly seek a conceptually-driven researcher excited to bring interests in community assembly, species interactions, spatial ecology, or other areas to bear on the above questions. The successful candidate will join Lars Brudvigs research group at Michigan State University (brudviglab.plantbiology.msu.edu) and work in collaboration with John Orrock at University of Wisconsin (https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/jorrock/web) and the US Forest Service.
This project is being conducted at the Savannah River Site in SC, where >120 1ha patches of remnant and post-agricultural longleaf pine woodland are being experimentally restored using tree thinning and prescribed fire. The treatments were initiated in early 2012, following a year of pre-treatment data collection, and we are accumulating a large dataset of plant community dynamics, along with numerous potential explanatory variables (e.g., soils, woodland structure, surrounding landscape composition, small mammal communities) and are also implementing a series of mechanism-oriented experiments nested within these sites (e.g., seed additions, consumer exclosures). The postdoc will work with these datasets and conduct new research within our experiment. This position will be primarily located at Michigan State University, with field work conducted at the research site in South Carolina. An application consists of: 1) a CV, 2) <2 page cover letter describing research interests, past research experiences, and ideas for research within our project, and 3) names/contact information for three references. We have two years of funding for this position, with the second year contingent on satisfactory progress. Applications and any inquiries should be directed to Lars Brudvig ([email protected]). Review of applicants will begin 17 March 2014.
