Missions

The Biodiversity and Marine Evolution team at the Montpellier Institute of Evolutionary Sciences is looking for a candidate for a post-doctorate as part of the European Biocean5D program. The post-doc will work with existing databases to build a dedicated database of functional traits and occurrence of non-native marine species. It will then use niche models to assess and predict the extent to which these non-native species could expand into European seas. It will also propose a methodological framework to study the hypothesis of functional distinction of non-native species

Activités

The aim is to organize and improve a pre-existing database listing traits, areas of origin and introduction of non-native species present in European seas, and then to use a series of tools and models (e.g. trait models, SDM, multivariate analyses) to generate a large-scale habitability map for non-native species, and to study the current and future establishment success (under different scenarios) of these non-native marine species. Candidates will be expected to present their results to the European consortium partners, and to promote them through open-access tools and publications. The work will be carried out in consultation with a broad international community and will benefit from exchanges with the BIOcean5D scientific community as well as with a network of researchers in invasion ecology (i.e. ICES WGITMO - https://www.ices.dk/community/groups/pages/wgitmo.aspx). The results of the project will be adapted and used to support public policies.

Compétences

To fulfil the proposed mission, the person recruited must meet the following criteria:
- Hold a PhD in marine ecology, with a strong component in numerical ecology and modeling.
- Demonstrate research experience in marine biological invasion processes and/or trait-based approaches and species distribution models.
- Mastery of R and Python programming tools (e.g. Tidyverse, raster, pandas, geopandas) and computing tools (e.g. GIT, Conda, high-performance computing) applied to community ecology and numerical ecology.
- Demonstrate excellent skills in biostatistics (uni- and multi-variate analyses), including machine learning, such as Random Forest; skills in querying and extracting data from databases such as GBIF/OBIS will be appreciated.
- Ability to work as part of a diverse research team
- Excellent writing skills in English, as demonstrated by scientific publications
- Have an excellent level of English (C1, C2) to adapt to work and exchanges within the BioCean5D consortium.

Contexte de travail

The Institute of Evolutionary Sciences of Montpellier (ISEM, https://isem-evolution.fr/en) is located on the campus of the University of Montpellier, close to Montpellier city center. This internationally renowned institute has been developing research on the origin and dynamics of biodiversity for over 40 years. A particular feature of the proposed position is that, in addition to this institute, the person recruited will be in close interaction with researchers from an IFREMER laboratory, based in Brest. Travel and stays of several weeks between Montpellier and Brest are thus to be expected for the duration of the contract.

Contraintes et risques

No particular risks other than those associated with sedentary work (computer analysis workstation). No major constraints except for missions to Brest with project collaborators.