A postdoctoral research position and three graduate assistantships are available for keen and motivated students interested in research and training centered around understanding the impact of climate change on boreal forest landscape biogeochemistry. These positions are available as part of a new NSERC-Strategic Partnership Project focused on the Newfoundland and Labrador Boreal Ecosystem Latitudinal Transect (NL-BELT; https://www.esd.mun.ca/nl-belt/) and made up of foreign collaborators, provincial and Canadian Forest Service partners as well as Memorial University researchers in Earth Sciences and Chemistry. The project is focused on exploiting the established NL-BELT which consists of four large watersheds located in western Newfoundland and southern Labrador to isolate the potential impact of predicted increases in temperature and precipitation in the coming century while maintaining an ability to apply the results to intact boreal forest ecosystems and their watersheds. Our team has been conducting investigations of soils and stream water along the NL-BELT and combining these with manipulative warming experiments to develop biogeochemical indicators of soil responses to increasing temperature. The increased ecosystem C fluxes with climate warming established along this transect appears to occur without significant changes to soil C stocks, however, they suggest important changes relevant to the terrestrial-to-aquatic flux of materials in these landscapes. It is anticipated that the new postdoctoral researcher, MSc and two PhD students joining the Biogeochemistry of Boreal Ecosystem Research Group (BBERG; http://www.mun.ca/earthsciences/Our_People/Faculty/Ziegler/) will focus on the following areas within this boreal biome climate change context: 1. Fate and geochemistry of dissolved organic matter in podzolic mineral soil horizons. 2. Biogeochemistry of organic matter through the terrestrial-to-aquatic interface. 3. Nutrient biogeochemistry of the terrestrial-to-aquatic interface. 4. Impacts of hydrology on soil respiratory responses.
Experience with aquatic or soil biogeochemistry, organic geochemistry, and/or environmental chemistry particularly will be important. All applicants should have a demonstrated background of experience in biogeochemistry, environmental chemistry, ecosystem ecology or hydrogeochemistry. Applicants should be willing and able to conduct field research at remote study sites for weeks at a time. These positions are all available as early as January 1, 2016. The graduate assistantships can be in either the Department of Earth Sciences or the Environmental Sciences Graduate Programs at Memorial University (http://www.mun.ca/) where program start dates are in May or September. Memorial is the largest university in Atlantic Canada. As the provinces only university, Memorial plays an integral role in the educational life of Newfoundland and Labrador (http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com). Offering a diverse set of undergraduate and graduate programs for approximately 18,000 students, Memorial provides a distinctive and stimulating environment for learning in St. Johns (http://www.stjohns.ca/visiting-our-city), a very safe, friendly city with great historical charm, a vibrant cultural life, and easy access to a wide range of outdoor activities. Please check the BBERG website (http://www.mun.ca/earthsciences/Our_People/Faculty/Ziegler/) for more information and group contacts, and direct further inquires or send applications, including letter of interest and detailed curriculum vitae (including contact information for 3 references), to: Dr. Susan Ziegler Canada Research Chair in Environmental Science Department of Earth Sciences Memorial University St. Johns, NL A1B 3X5 Canada 709.864.2669 [email protected] http://www.mun.ca/earthsciences/Our_People/Faculty/Ziegler/ Review of applications will commence immediately and will continue until positions are filled.
