Host laboratory:

You will be based at the UMR Eco&Sols, located in Montpellier, France, which comprises 70 permanent staff and brings together INRAE, IRD, Institut Agro Montpellier (formerly SupAgro) and CIRAD. The overall aim of the UMR’s work is to improve our understanding of soil and plant functions, particularly biogeochemical cycles within soils and agro-ecosystems. Our main areas of study are low-input agro-ecosystems comprising perennial, annual, or both types of plants, in tropical and Mediterranean climates.

Scientific context:

Water use efficiency (WUE) represents the ratio between carbon flux and water flux. This metric varies depending on the scale of observation, the numerator considered (leaf photosynthesis, gross primary production via eddy covariance, net primary production NPP/ANPP, growth) and the denominator (leaf transpiration, evapotranspiration ET, transpiration T via sap flow, plot-catchment-regional hydrology).

Understanding variations in WUE according to ecosystem type (forests, plantations, agroforestry systems, savannahs, pastures, crops), climate, phenology, allocation, edaphic factors (soil texture, water and mineral availability) and their interactions is a major challenge for production and adaptation to climatic constraints.

Main tasks:

You will carry out analytical work on water use efficiency (WUE), involving the collection, database entry, diagnosis and analysis of data from experimental sites equipped with measurements of C and H₂O fluxes via eddy covariance (flux towers), net primary productivity (NPP), evaporation and transpiration at various scales. The targeted sites include those of the PEPR FairCarboN/PC3-RIFT project, other volunteer sites within the PEPR FairCarboN project, as well as sites identified in international databases (FLUXNET, AMMA-CATCH, SOERE, ICOS).

You will analyse the diversity of WUE in relation to NPP and its distribution across various ecosystems, focusing in particular on:

•     The variability of WUE across different ecosystems and their seasonal and interannual fluctuations

•     The main determinants of WUE

•     The impact of phenology and aboveground-belowground partitioning on water use efficiency

•     The links between C allocation, growth, C storage and WUE

You will organise seminars, webinars and field trips to collect data, in collaboration with the postdoctoral researcher working in parallel on carbon allocation. You will develop a tool for assessing data quality and diversity, enabling the filtering and sorting of data from field sites using eddy covariance, NPP and hydrology. Finally, you will conduct a comparative analysis of the sites

LOCATION : Montpellier France

Required skills:

·        PhD in terrestrial ecosystem ecology or environmental sciences. Applications from recent graduates are welcome!

·        Proficiency in the physical and biological processes related to the carbon and water cycles in terrestrial ecosystems

·        Extensive programming skills

·        Fluency in spoken and written English

Skills that would be an advantage:

·        Skills in data mining, database management and analysis

·        Skills in flux towers and the eddy covariance method for measuring carbon flux, including partitioning and gap-filling methods and models

·        Hydrology skills

·        Skills in meta-analysis

·        Proven ability to work in a team and to bring together research groups around a cross-disciplinary publication objective

·        Fluency in spoken and written French

Please include in your CV references from managers of previous roles, whom we may contact

Our strengths
 

For scientific management roles:

Employee benefits: You will receive a 13th month’s salary, plus, for those willing to relocate, specific allowances depending on location and family circumstances. You will also benefit from comprehensive social insurance cover regardless of location.