FBA Studentship
Applications invited – PhD CASE-Studentship starting September 2012
Developing a novel network-based approach to biomonitoring
Queen Mary, University of London
CASE award with the FBA
Supervised by Guy Woodward (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences) and Athen Ma (School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science), QMUL.
This interdisciplinary project aims to add a new dimension to the RIVPACS database, by developing a more functional understanding of how higher-level (e.g. food web) properties respond to environmental conditions and stressors. It will assess a novel aspect of functional biodiversity (species interactions) that has been overlooked in biomonitoring, due to the bias towards focusing on the nodes (i.e. species) within food webs rather than the links (e.g. trophic interactions between species pairs). The student will enrich existing data on species abundance in one of the largest informatics resources in the world – the RIVPACS database of 835 UK streams – with new data (species interactions), using the published literature and information held by QMUL to construct food webs for each RIVPACS site. This will allow him/her to address key ecological questions with unprecedented statistical power.
For further details: click here.
The closing date for applications is 31 January 2012. Interviews are expected to take place in the week commencing 6 February 2012.
Current FBA-funded students
Fiona Bracken (Durham University; matched funding from FBA)
The behavioural and evolutionary ecology of lampreys – anthropogenic impacts and conservation concern
Supervisors: Martyn Lucas & Rus Hoelzel (Durham University)
Louise Lavictoire (FBA and University of Cumbria; FBA staff member)
Population genetics and captive breeding practices to aid conservation of the endangered freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera L.
Supervisors: Billy Sinclair & Andrew Ramsey (University of Cumbria), and Mike Dobson (FBA)
Julia Reger (University of Sheffield; CASE studentship)
Molecular basis of adaptation to predator regimes using Daphnia
Supervisors: Andrew Beckerman & Jon Slate (University of Sheffield), and Mike Dobson (FBA)
Helen Rosenkranz (University of Bristol; matched funding from FBA)
Biofilm dynamics: biodiversity, architecture and functioning in response to agrochemical gradients
Supervisors: Marian Yallup & Alex Anesio (University of Bristol), and Martyn Kelly (Bowburn Consultancy)
Gary Rushworth (FBA and University of Leeds; matched funding from FBA)
Macroinvertebrate community structure and functional development in reed swamp habitat
Supervisors: Lee Brown (University of Leeds) & Mike Dobson (FBA)
Felicity Shelley (Queen Mary, University of London; CASE Studentship)
The effects of methane concentration on river food webs
Supervisors: Jonathan Grey (QMUL) & Mike Dobson (FBA)
