Post-doctoral position (M/F) for testing drought-based BEF relationships at CEFE Montpellier, France

Job Description

Missions

The person will be responsible for three main tasks:
i) Carry-out additional simulations with the Phoreau model to test the effect of tree diversity on forests' resistance to droughts.
ii) Analyse biodiversity-drought resistance relationships, across a diversity of environmental contexts
iii) Determine how climate change and management scenarios affect forest contributions, and assess synergies and conflicts between them.

Activity

The person will establish a simulation plan and conduct simulations with the Phoreau model, to reach the identified objectives. They will also have to establish transfer functions between model outputs and forest contributions, and carry out and analyze simulations based on these, with possible modifications to the integrated model.

Your Profil

Skills

• PhD in Ecology, Forestry or a related subject, with a solid academic background in ecology and ecophysiology. Experience in tree physiology and climate change impacts is a plus.
• Strong background in ecological modelling, programming and analytical skills in R and strongly recommended in JAVA.
• Clear communication in English in both spoken and written form.
• Good interpersonal skills needed for teamwork.

Your Work Environment

Forests are terrestrial ecosystems of major importance, and forests in metropolitan France are among the largest and most diversified ones in Europe (from Mediterranean to alpine forest ecosystems). Like most ecosystems on Earth, French forests are increasingly impacted by on-going climate change, and especially more severe and frequent drought events, which alters their structure, biodiversity and functioning and threatens their renewal and carbon sink. Their vulnerability is expected to increase in the next decades due to more frequent and more severe droughts and heat waves, as already reported.
Yet species diversity is often proposed as a possible insurance against such risks. However, evidence is still lacking about such a process, and especially about the physiological causes possible leading to the diversity effect.
In this context, the aim of the postdoctoral project is to carry-out simulations with a new meta-model built from complementary process-based models of forest dynamics and functioning, recently published (Postic et al. 2025). More specifically, the model is built on the coupling of the models Phenofit (process-based SDM), ForCEEPS (forest dynamics model), SurEAU (heat and water stress physiological model), and Yasso07 (soil carbon dynamics model). In addition, the chosen candidate will also analyse already-made simulations to test management strategies balancing all actors' expectations in order to provide robust predictions of forest's contributions under both climate change and management scenarios.
Reference : Postic et al. 2025 GMD. https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/18/7603/2025/

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

from 3071€ gross per month, depending on experience

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

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