§ You will be welcomed in the research unit ISPA, within the research team of the project GO+ (Program GRAINE, Ademe , PRIMA, and Région Nouvelle Aquitaine) with Dr D. Loustau, L. Augusto and Pr. Jean-Christophe Domec. The ISPA unit is located close from the Bordeaux city and belongs to the INRAE centre Bordeaux-Nouvelle Aquitaine and Bordeaux-Sciences-Agro. The GO+ project aim at projecting the effects of climate scenarios on French forests and interactions with management alternatives. The forest model GO+ has been extensively evaluated against observed data of energy, water and carbon fluxes as well as tree growth and production. However, despite their widely acknowledged interaction with CO2 concentration increase on tree growth, the basic processes describing the Nitrogen and Phosphorus cycles in vegetation and soil are still not properly included. Relying on the results and synthesis achieved previously , the research proposed will aim at building and testing a fully coupled model of C-N-P cycles in managed forests (Pines, Oaks, Beech, Douglas fir…) and also in intercropped systems established to increase biomass production (trees managed at higher planting densities, or corn intercropped with trees). The results provided will be published in international scientific literature and disseminated through the Forests-21 project portal.
§ You will be in charge of:
– An updated synthesis of the state of the art on the modelling of C N and P cycles in managed forests and in intercropped agro-forest systems.
– Model the main processes of the N and P cycles in the soil and vegetation with a coupling with C cycle (OM decomposition, adsorption, leaching, N fixation, fertilisation, photosynthesis, respiration, C allocation, growth, nutrient exportation by management and harvest)
– Collect, check and assemble a comprehensive dataset allowing to test the model(s) with biogeochemical data observed (Fluxnet, ICOS-Ecosystem, TRY database, ICP-Forest)
– Application of the model to simulate the C-N-P budgets of forests under climate scenarios and management alternatives
– Publishing and communicating your results in international scientific journals and at Geophysical Unions Assemblies (AGU, EGU).
Special conditions of activity: You will be part of the GO+ project team at ISPA unit including two computing engineers, C. Moisy and C. Aluome, three scientists, J.-C. Domec, D. Loustau and L. Augusto, a project manager, S. Figuères, and you will interact with project partners: ICOS colleagues, Ademe, other INRAE research teams in Nancy (UMR SILVA) and Bordeaux, forest engineers (S. Martel, CNPF).
TRAINING AND SKILLS REQUIRED
§ Recommended training: Modelling in biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems, PH D thesis
§ Knowledge required: Biogeochemistry, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Carbon, Forest Ecosystems, Ecosystem dynamics.
§ Appreciated experience: Ph D thesis in biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems (forests, grasslands)
§ Skills sought: Programming, Python language, fluent in English, open mindedness, working in a team.