University of Ioannina
Dep. Of Env. & Nat. Res. Management
Doctoral / Post-doc Position
“Impact of agricultural abandonment on
landscape structure and biodiversity”
Rationale
Rural depopulation and agricultural abandonment are particularly widespread in the
mountainous regions of eastern and southern Europe, affecting directly landscape
structure, and having often a negative impact on biological diversity. Our research
handles this major conservation issue, attempting to investigate the impact of
agricultural abandonment on landscape structure, vegetation (woody plants),
farmland bird diversity, insects and herpetofauna. We will select 20-30 sites in order
to well-represent a gradient of land abandonment, based on the time and type of
last agricultural land use. We will analyze the landscape structure of the selected
sites, extracting informative landscape indices using GIS and Fragstats software. We
will also sample biodiversity using standard field protocols (quadrats, point counts,
transects) and we will introduce our spatial and biotic data in a common database.
We plan to compare the diversity patterns and the community structure of the two
biological groups studied, across the land abandonment gradient, as reflected from
the selected sites. We also plan to investigate the impact of land abandonment on
landscape structure and how the latter is associated with the diversity patterns of
the biological groups in question, linking the ecological with the organismal level of
biological diversity (modeling and correlation analysis). The present research will
result in at least two scientific publications and three announcements in
conferences, whilst we will communicate our findings to policy makers and to the
general public.
Research frame
The proposed research is part of a project in collaboration with Albania, Croatia,
Austria and Bulgaria. Coordinator of the project and supervisor of the doctoral thesis
is Dr. Vassiliki Kati, Department of Environmental & Natural Resources Management,
University of Ioannina, Agrinio, Greece http://www.env.uoi.gr. Field research will be
held in remote mountainous areas of Greece. The young researcher will take part in
international meetings and will be in close collaboration with the broader research
team. He/she will have to run an independent research and be accommodated near
sampling sites during the sampling period (4 months).
University of Ioannina
Dep. Of Env. & Nat. Res. Management
Requirements
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PhD or MSc degree in biology, environmental conservation or related
disciplines.(a)
Good knowledge of English
Interest in independent and multidisciplinary research.
Interest on ornithology, landscape ecology and biodiversity conservation
Car driving (preferably 4 X 4)
Knowledge on GIS, ornithology, herpetology and statistics is desirable.
(a) candidates without MSc and but with diploma degree with grade >8/10 may also
apply)
Salary and conditions
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Salary is 1000 Euro per month.
A amount of 5000€ will be allocated as an extra help for field
work/travel/accommodation.
Start date: September 2010. The position is for two years and concerns only
young researchers (<35 years old) wishing to undertake a PhD or already in a
possession of a doctoral degree relevant to the research project.
The doctoral thesis will be presented as a series of English manuscripts with an
extensive synthesis and bibliographical review.
Candidates will be notified by the end of June 2010.
Applications
Applicants should send electronically as soon as possible and not later than 10th
March 2010, in a single pdf file to the following e-mails: info@cbcd.eu and
vkati@cc.uoi.gr , the below information
 CV (date of birth, school grade, diploma grade, qualifications, scholarships,
languages, involvement in scientific societies/NGOs, publications, congresses etc)
 Short summary of their research interests and their motivation for the position
 The names (with email address) of two references
 Publications ( if any)
For further information, please contact Dr. V. Kati in the above e-mails.