The Evolving Meta-Ecosystems (EVOME) Institute is recruiting for four PhD positions at three of its partner institutions: University of Alabama, University of Alaska Fairbanks (2 positions), and University of Connecticut. Students will work with a diverse and highly dynamic group of collaborators and will have the unique experience of spending their summers conducting field work at Toolik Field Station in the Alaskan Arctic. Ideally students would begin in the spring of 2025, starting with summer field work in the Arctic.
The Evolving Meta-Ecosystems (EVOME) Institute bridges disciplines to explore if organisms can adapt to rapid climate change and maintain ecosystem connectivity and productivity. EVOME integrates research from genes to ecosystems, focusing on the resilience of Arctic Alaskan stream-riparian systems amid fast climate shifts. Participants benefit from training, mentoring, synthesis efforts, and networking with a fun and dedicated research team. We welcome applicants to bring their unique perspectives and identities through their culture, national origin, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability, age, religion and beliefs to EVOME.
University of Alabama – Atkinson and Lozier Labs
We seek a student interested in studying terrestrial and stream invertebrates (ground beetles, mayflies, stoneflies) to investigate links between community ecology, trait variation, ecological stoichiometry, thermal biology, and genomics across a broad latitudinal gradient in Alaska. The student’s research will help address major questions about adaptability to a warming arctic in diverse terrestrial and aquatic invertebrate species.
University of Alaska Fairbanks - Schoen, Westley and Gilbert labs
We are seeking candidates for two Ph.D. assistantships at the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences investigating how Arctic grayling are responding to rapid climate change in northern Alaska. One student will focus on questions of trophic interactions and growth. Another student will focus on the evolutionary ecology of grayling through measurement of fitness-related traits such as metabolism and timing of key life history events. Both students will assess contributions of the environment (phenotypic plasticity) and evolution (heritability) to thermal performance through fieldwork along a 300 km latitudinal gradient and through common garden and streamside experiments.
University of Connecticut – Urban Lab
We are seeking a graduate student to join a dynamic lab in the ecology and evolutionary biology department at the University of Connecticut and the EVOME Institute. A research assistantship and funding are available for projects on ecology and evolution, with flexibility in taxa and questions. Our lab focuses on biodiversity, ecosystem resilience to climate change, and current projects include amphibian community experiments, climate impacts on Arctic fish, adaptation genomics, and extinction risk prediction. We welcome independent thinkers to complement our research team.
Detailed position descriptions and desired qualifications can be found at this link:
https://www.woodwellclimate.org/project/evolving-meta-ecosystems-institu...