BECC - Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate - is a new strategic research initiative in cooperation between Lund University and the University of Gothenburg. In Lund it is hosted by the Centre for Environmental and Climate Research (CEC) at the Faculty of Science. BECC strives for a better understanding of the impacts of climate change and land use decisions on terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity, addressing the consequences of ecosystem changes for human beings and socio-economic systems. The vision of BECC is to advance interdisciplinary research approaches that contribute to the sustainable management of ecosystems and biodiversity in a rapidly changing world.
More information can be found at http://www.cec.lu.se/forskning/becc
Job assignments
Many of the biogeochemical processes that are critical to the functioning of ecosystems and their services to society are mediated by microorganisms. This includes carbon (C) sequestration, greenhouse gas production and mobilization of nutrients (N and P). Whether terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems will capture, store or release C and nutrients is highly dependent on how changing climate conditions and management including adaptation or mitigation strategies affect microbial processes and community structure. However, the parameterizations of microbial processes are highly simplified in ecosystem models, typically in the form of temperature- and moisture-dependent kinetic equations with empirically-determined rate constants. The abundance, diversity and interactions among functional groups, though doubtless important determinants of ecosystem biogeochemical responses to climate and atmospheric changes, are seldom represented explicitly,
reducing the accuracy of current model simulations of future changes. The overall aim of the BECC program ?Climate, land use and biogeochemical cycles? is to develop tools and frameworks for connecting data and models at scales from genomes to ecosystems over which the diversity of microbial communities could influence ecosystem services like release of greenhouse gases, nutrient leakage and C storage.
ForSAFE-Veg is a dynamic forest ecosystem model for modelling effects of climate change, forestry and deposition on soil chemistry, tree growth, carbon sequestration and ground vegetation composition. The candidate for this position will develop the ForSAFE-Veg model to simulate P dynamics in soils of seminatural ecosystems, the availability of P to tree uptake, and the biogeochemical cycle of P at ecosystem level. An important part is to integrate data on the diversity and activity of the soil microorganisms that are active in the turnover of nutrients in forest soils, in particular ectomycorrhizal fungi. The applicant will work in a multidisciplinary team including experimentalists and modelers. He/she will incorporate empirical knowledge about P mobility and availability for plant uptake in an existing model platform, ForSAFE-Veg and be responsible of testing, revision and validation of the model to be included. This requires that he/she will be able to work technically on modifying and improving the ForSAFE-Veg model.
The successful candidate is expected to be involved in developing several multidisciplinary research projects within the BECC programme ?Climate, land use and biogeochemical cycles?. The candidate will also take part in and organizing seminars and workshops at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Research (CEC).
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