The Billings lab at the University of Kansas is seeking a Ph.D. student interested in investigating biogeochemical puzzles in terrestrial ecosystem ecology. We explore fundamental mechanisms governing elemental fluxes in boreal and temperate forests, and temperate grasslands. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to work at multiple research platforms: 1) the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory (http://criticalzone.org/calhoun/), where we explore how historic land use and climate interact to drive above- and belowground ecosystem processes in intact forests and forests re-growing on former agricultural land; 2) the Newfoundland and Labrador Boreal Ecosystem Latitudinal Transect (https://www.esd.mun.ca/nl-belt/), where eastern Canadian boreal forests exposed to varying mean annual temperature grow in otherwise similar conditions (part of the Critical Zone Exploration Network); and 3) the KU Field Station (https://biosurvey.ku.edu/field-station), where land holdings represent successional forest stages, native prairie, and restored grasslands. We emphasize the importance of elucidating fundamental mechanisms driving patterns in terrestrial ecosystems as they regenerate following disturbance and respond to climate and land use change. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of interdisciplinary researchers, assist with the development of CZ science (http://criticalzone.org/), and become part of an energetic and driven group of researchers working to understand interactions between life and its abiotic surroundings. For details, please contact Sharon Billings at [email protected], after visiting the lab’s web page (http://billingslab.faculty.ku.edu/) and reading instructions for great ways to express interest.
