1 PhD fellowship at ICTA-UAB - CALMED Project

1 PhD fellowship at ICTA-UAB

Contract Duration: up to 4 years

Contract type: PhD contracts (FPI),

Reference project: CTM2016-79547-R (CALMED Project)

The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) offers 1 fellowship available to candidates who would like to pursue their PhD studies at the Institute. The position is related to the call “Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores 2017” of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). Deadline for pre-applications is 15^th of June 2017, please write to pr.mdm.icta@uab.cat  for further information or to apply for the position.

This call:

Within the current call, the successful applicant will be hosted at UAB Campus (Barcelona, Spain) and will develop their PhD training in the project detailed below:

Project title: Planktonic calcifying organisms in a high-CO₂ Mediterranean Sea (CALMED).

Abstract: Unprecedentedly fast, human-derived fossil-fuel burning has elevated atmospheric CO₂ with largely unknown impacts to surface ocean organisms. While warming and acidification have produced some observable changes globally and regionally in a physical and chemical sense, associated changes to planktonic calcifying organisms at the base of marine food webs and ecosystems remains very poorly understood. In particular, coccolithophores (phytoplankton), foraminifera and pteropods (zooplankton) that form CaCO₃ shells have been demonstrated as particularly, puzzlingly, and potentially sensitive recorders of such combined influences. Furthermore, the Mediterranean Sea has been recognized as a global climate change “hotspot” whereby regional impacts are expected to be especially profound throughout the 21st century. Much knowledge is missing however on the nature of pre- versus post-anthropogenic change throughout the W. Mediterranean in particular, and here in the CALMED project we aim to fill these important and glaring gaps with new studies on these 3 major classes of marine calcifying plankton. We will explicitly test the hypothesis that human-induced climate change since the mid-19th century has already borne detectable changes on these plankton groups that are observable through their assemblage compositions, mass and morphometry, and seasonal cycling of both former aspects plus geochemical tracers.

CALMED will exploit a top-down approach in the broader Mediterranean basin, including the NE Atlantic as a form of background, by examining culture and field water samples, sediment traps, surface sediments, and down-core sediments dating back several centuries into the last millennium. This combination should enable a temporally- and spatially-scaled assessment of the major planktonic calcifying groups under the influence of diverse Mediterranean physical oceanographic and associated geochemical influences and features, plus a greater understanding of marine biodiversity changes of the same organisms through a critical time period. The findings should ultimately contribute critical knowledge on a number of outstanding issues in the Mediterranean Sea, which is widely- recognized as especially sensitive to a range of global-scale influences but yet at the marginal sea (or basin) scale.

Supervisors: Patrizia Ziveri and Graham Mortyn

Qualifications

The fellowships are open to truly outstanding candidates with distinguished curricula and proven ability to communicate fluently in English. We expect candidates with studies in environmental and earth sciences, oceanography and biology. Interdisciplinary experience is highly appreciated. Successful candidates will hold a master’s degree or equivalent at the time of recruitment and had courses in statistics and research methods.

Eligibility criteria:

Applicants should meet the requirements for PhD call “contratos predoctorales” 2017 by MINECO. As the call has not been published yet (expected month: June-July 2017), as basis you may read the call from the previous year.

At the time of submission the candidate: