PhD position, Aberdeen, UK: Niche Evolution in a Warming World
Institution: Aberdeen University
Dept/School/Faculty: School of Biological Sciences
PhD Supervisor: Dr L Lancaster
Application Deadline: Friday, January 16, 2015Funding Availability: Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)Supervisors: Dr Lesley Lancaster, Professor Michael Ritchie (St Andrews) and Professor
Jorgen Ripa (Lund)For more details and application, please visit: www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=58671&LID
Many organisms are currently responding to climate change with dramatic shifts in
their geographic ranges and ecological niches. However, the mechanisms underlying
these biotic consequences of rapidly changing climates remain poorly
understood. It is critical to improve our understanding in this area of
research, as many pests and disease-carrying species are currently expanding
under global climate change, while other, less rapidly evolving species face
extinction. In this PhD project, the student will investigate a number of
hypothetical evolutionary trajectories that could underlie or constrain rapid
niche shifts occurring during climate-induced range expansions. This represents
an exciting opportunity to contribute to scientific understanding of evolution
under environmental change and to develop knowledge to inform conservation and
management. Specifically, the project will investigate how shifts in a speciesâ
resource use traits, climate tolerances, and dispersal abilities contribute to
niche evolution, and will seek to characterise evolutionary trade-offs among
these traits that my constrain a speciesâ ability to adapt to a
rapidly-changing world. There will be ample opportunity for the student to
propose and test their own hypotheses for niche evolution mechanisms,
incorporating additional processes and effects such as mating system evolution,
indirect genetic effects, epigenetics, etc., following the research interests
of the student.
The PhD project offers opportunity to learn a variety of important methods in
evolutionary biology, including experimental evolution/quantitative genetics
in lab-based organisms (using seed beetles, a currently evolving global crop pest),
individual-based modelling approaches, and offers opportunities for field
ecology approaches in northeast Scotland, to allow the student to become
familiar with evolutionary and ecological dynamics in wild, evolving insect
systems.
Funding Notes:
This project is eligible for the EASTBIO Doctoral Training Partnership:
http://www.eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk/.
This opportunity is only open to UK nationals (or EU students who have been
resident in the UK for at least three years immediately prior to the programme
start date) due to restrictions imposed by the funding body.
References:
1. Bebber, D.P. et al. (2013) Crop pests and pathogens move polewards in a warming world.
Nature Climate Change 3: 985-988.
2. Ackerly, D.D. et al. (2006) Niche evolution and adaptive radiation: Testing the order of
trait divergence.
3. Tuda, M. et al. (2006) Evolutionary diversification of the bean beetle Callosobruchus
(Coleoptera: Bruchidae): traits associated with stored-product pest status. Molecular
Ecology 15: 3541-3551. |