Ph.D.- and Post-Doctoral positions in Plant Ecology and
Community Ecology
Four Ph.D postions and one Post-Doctoral position are available within the
multidisciplinary research project GLOWA Jordan River. The positions are available for a
period of three years, starting with Sept. 1st, 2005.
GLOWA Jordan River (www.glowa-jordan-river.de) is a large interdisciplinary research
project focusing on the impacts of global change on the water resources in the Jordan
River basin. The project involves scientists from Israel, the Palestinian Autonomy,
Jordan and Germany from a variety of disciplines such as climatology, hydrology,
ecology, and social sciences. The project has started in mid-2001 and a second project
phase is scheduled for September 2005 to August 2008.
For a subproject of GLOWA Jordan River, which is dealing with the impact of climate
change and land use change on natural ecosystems, four Ph.D. positions and one PostDoctoral position (part-time) are available. These positions are dealing with the following
subjects:
1) Germination strategies of annual plants under climate change
Results from the first project phase have indicated that annual plants exhibit certain
germination strategies for surviving in their variable and unpredictable environments.
Namely, germination rates were affected by average annual rainfall, actual annual
rainfall and the maternal environment. In the second project phase, we want to evaluate
whether and how these germination patterns may determine the response of the studied
annual populations to climate change. This will be investigated using a set of field and
greenhouse studies for determining the heritability of germination traits, the genetic and
phenotypic variation within and between populations, and the response of the withinpopulation trait distribution to natural and artificial climatic changes. The work includes
field and greenhouse work in Israel and possibly in Jordan during three field seasons
(Oct-May, respectively).
The candidate will develop a detailed research program on his/her own. The candidate
should hold a Diploma or a Masters Degree in Biology or Ecology. Special skills required
include a good knowledge of plant population ecology and/or evolutionary ecology,
ability to spend long periods in the field, good knowledge in statistics and experimental
design, and fluency in English.
Place of employment will be at the Plant Ecology lab (Prof. Dr. Katja Tielbörger) at the
University of Tübingen, Germany. Payment will be according to the German standard
tariff for public services (BAT II a /2) plus travel expences and per diem for the time of
stay in Israel. Please contact Katja Tielbörger for further details (katja.tielboerger@unituebingen.de).
2) Long-term community dynamics of annual plants under climate change
In a large experimental setup we have monitored the response of annual plant
communities to natural and artificial changes in rainfall. Natural changes include
differences between four stations established along a steep climatic gradient in Israel,
and inter-annual variability. Experiments are conducted at the two middle stations for
evaluating the effects of artificial drought and artificially increased rainfall on plant
community dynamics. The work will include the continuation of monitoring annual plant
abundance and demography along the gradient and within the treatments for another
three years and the analysis of the data from a total of seven years. Analyses will
include both community-level analyses, as well as single-species analyses with respect
to climatic conditions (natural and experimental), neighbor conditions and soil properties.
The candidate should hold a Diploma or a Masters Degree in Biology or Ecology.
Special skills required include a good knowledge of plant population ecology and/or
community ecology, ability to spend long periods in the field, good knowledge in
statistics, especially in multivariate techniques, very good knowledge of plants, and
fluency in English.
Place of employment will be at the Plant Ecology lab (Prof. Dr. Katja Tielbörger) at the
University of Tübingen, Germany.. Payment will be according to the German standard
tariff for public services (BAT II a /2) plus travel expences and per diem for the time of
stay in Israel. Please contact Katja Tielbörger for further details (katja.tielboerger@unituebingen.de).
3) The impact of granivory on seed bank and population dynamics of annual
plants under climate change
Granivory by ants and rodents is known to have large effects on the population
dynamics of annuals inhabiting arid and semi-arid environments via a considerable
depletion of the soil seed bank. In this study, we aim at testing several theoretical
predictions about the role of granivory on plant population persistence in variable
environments. Among others, we aim at experimentally testing whether granivores buffer
population fluctuations in space and time. Another main aim is to parameterize spatiallyexplicit models of annual plant population dynamics under climate change. This
subproject will be done in close cooperation with students from Tel Aviv University
working on the dynamics of the soil seed bank.
The candidate will develop a detailed research program on his/her own. The candidate
should hold a Diploma or a Masters Degree in Biology or Ecology. Special skills required
include a good knowledge of animal ecology and plant population biology, ability to
spend long periods in the field, good knowledge in statistics and experimental design,
excellent knowledge of plants, and fluency in English. Knowledge of Hebrew is
advantageous though no prerequisite.
Place of employment will be at the Plant Ecology lab (Prof. Dr. Jaime Kigel) at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel. Payment will be according to the
Israeli standard tariff for Ph.D. students plus travel expences (in Israel and to Germany)
and per diem (three months of stay in Germany per year). Please contact Jaime Kigel
(kigel@agri.huji.ac.il) for further details.
4) Evaluation of restoration measures of degraded semi-arid rangelands under
climate change
Natural ecosystems in the eastern Mediterranean have been largely shaped by longterm grazing by domestic animals. Within the study area of GLOWA Jordan River, this
has led to highly degaded systems, particularly in the West Bank and Jordan. Since
overgrazing has most likely larger effects on long-term persistence of plant species and
communities than climate change, management efforts to restore productivity and
sustainabiliy of rangelands has to focus on grazing. In this subproject, we utilize the
information on vegetation dynamic processes under different climatic conditions from the
first project phase as well as a set of experiments to investigate means to restore
overgrazed ecosystems. A set of exclosures and other experiments will be established
along a steep climatic gradient in Jordan to investigate the potential of the natural
vegetation to recover from overgrazing. Fieldwork will be conducted in Jordan during
three consecutive growing seasons (Oct-May, respectively), with several trips to Israel
for comparative studies.
The candidate will develop a detailed research program on his/her own. The candidate
should hold a Diploma or a Masters Degree in Biology, Ecology, Environmental Studies
or related subjects. Special skills required include a good knowledge of plant population
ecology and/or community ecology, ability to spend long periods in the field, good
knowledge in statistics and experimental design, good communication skills and fluency
in English.
Place of employment will be at the Vegetation Management lab (Prof. Dr. Rüdiger
Prasse) Hannover University, Germany. Payment will be according to the German
standard tariff for public services (BAT II a /2) plus travel expences and per diem for the
time of stay in Jordan and Israel. Please contact Rüdiger Prasse (prasse@land.unihannover.de) for further details.
5) Plant community response to climate change: regionalization of findings
The aim of this project is to establish an observational and experimental setup along a
steep climatic gradient in Jordan that will allow us to evaluate, to what degree the
findings obtained from the first project phase (Israel) can be extrapolated to the whole
Jordan River basin. The basic assumption is that the differences in land use between
Israel and Jordan will be the major factor determining the system's response to climate
change. This assumption will be tested in a large comparative set of observations and
experiments which will be used for validating vegetation models developed in the first
project phase, based on data obtained from a similar gradient in Israel.
The candidate will be expected to develop a detailed research program which should
include a subset of comparative studies needed for model validation. The candidate will
be furthermore responsible for coordinating and supervising German and Jordanian
technicians, undergraduate and graduate students who will be working on the
comparative studies in Jordan and in Israel.
The candidate should hold a Ph.D. Degree in Biology, Ecology, Environmental Studies
or a similar subject and should have a good publication record. Special skills required
include a good knowledge of plant population ecology and/or community ecology, ability
to spend long periods in the field, good knowledge in statistics and experimental design,
very good knowledge of plants, excellent communication and organizational skills and
fluency in English. Knowledge in Arabic and German is helpful but no prerequisite.
Place of employment will be at the Plant Ecology lab (Prof. Dr. Katja Tielbörger) at the
University of Tübingen, Germany. Payment will be according to the German standard
tariff for public services (3/4 BAT II a) plus travel expences and per diem for the time of
stay in Jordan. Please contact Katja Tielbörger (katja.tielboerger@uni-tuebingen.de) for
further details.
Candidates should send the following documents via Email to Prof. Katja Tielbörger
(katja.tielboerger@uni-tuebingen.de) and the respective contact person for each project
by July 15, 2005:
1) Statement of interest for one or more of the above positions
Please indicate which position is of interest to you, why you are interested
in the position(s) and which are your key skills/ qualifications for the particular
position. If you are interested in more that one position, please indicate and
justify your preferences.
2) Curriculum Vitae
3) List of publications (prerequisite for position 5)
4) Name and address (including Email) of two references