1 Post-doctoral Research position in Numerical Ecology in France | Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer

The BenthoVAL project aims tp asses Ecological Quality (EcoQ) os coastal benthic habitats in Metropolitan France. It will validate and develop methods based on taxonomic composition and Sediment Profile Imagery, and will largely rely on the analysis and valorisation of the the Benthic Marofauna Database (BMDB) put together by the RÉseau des Stations et Observatoires MARins (RESOMAR, INSU, CNRS). The BDMB spans a period of 50 years and covers France’s entire metropolitan coastline. It covers 106 datasets and contains 9990 samples.

The selected candidate will carry out tasks related to the statistical analysis of temporal and space-time variations in subsets of community data from the BMDB, specifically:

• Produce robust and comparable estimates of species diversity through space and time. To describe and model gains and loss of this diversity. To identify Hot Spots.!
• Establish a biological trait matrix of taxa present in the subsets of data. This will allow approaching the problem from both the classical taxonomic point of view, but also from a “functional diversity” point of view.!
• To establish spatial and/or temporally constrained classifications of samples from the BMDB. Identify indicator taxa (or characteristic biological traits) for theses groups.!
• Identify characteristic spatiotemporal scales of the systems under study.!
• Describe and analyse the disturbance-diversity relationship in the same systems.!

The selected candidate will also be in charge of coordinating and writing scientific papers resulting from this research.

Career Stage

Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)

Research Profile:

Recognised Researcher (R2)

Additional Requirements

• Expertise in community ecology and numerical ecology.
• Knowledge of marine systems and benthic ecology.
• Proficiency in the R language R required.
• Working knowledge of French desired.