IGB invites application for 8 PhD positions in the
International Leibniz Graduate School
Aquatic boundaries and linkages in a changing environment
(Aqualink)
Application deadline: 29th April 2012
Aqualink is an interdisciplinary doctoral training and research programme focusing on aquatic boundaries and linkages in a changing environment. Over a 3-year period, doctoral candidates will receive training that aims at facilitating completion of research leading to an original doctoral thesis and high-quality publications in the scientific literature. Two Leibniz institutes (Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, IGB; Leibniz Centre of Agricultural Landscape Research, ZALF) will cooperate with three international partners (University of Aberdeen, Scotland; Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Eawag; University of Southern Denmark) to create a stimulating research environment, facilitate international mobility, and provide support structures and assistance, all aimed at promoting the candidates' skill set required for successful science. Some of the below advertised PhD studentships will be based at these institutions. Aqualink is organized along three major topics:
Topic 1 – Boundaries between aquatic and terrestrial systems
1. Hydraulically and temperature controlled exchange between surface water and groundwater
The research will focus on small-scale identification and quantification of spatial and temporal heterogeneous exchange processes between surface and subsurface water. With a set of measurement techniques and modelling methods the close coupling of transport hydrodynamics and biogeochemical turnover will be investigated along flow paths at the aquifer-lake interface. A case study at Lake Stechlin will focus on the importance of the often disregarded component groundwater in lake nutrient budgets. The successful candidate holds an MSc degree in Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Geoecology, Environmental Sciences or a related field and is enthused by the prospect of working in a collaborative team with international participation.
Supervisors: Prof. Gunnar Nützmann (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Berlin, IGB), Dr. Jörg Lewandowski (IGB) and Prof. Mario Schirmer (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Eawag)
Host organization: The IGB is the largest freshwater ecology research institute in Germany (ww.igb-berlin.de) and offers excellent laboratory and field facilities for interdisciplinary research, large-scale experimental facilities, and long-term research programs and data sets.
Please address enquiries to Prof. Gunnar Nützmann or Dr. Jörg Lewandowski (nuetzmann@igb-berlin.de) and send a single PDF containing the full application document to IGB's personnel office (aqualink@igb-berlin.de).
2. Regime dynamics of aquatic-terrestrial boundaries and their changes
Approaches of nonlinear statistics and dynamical systems theory will be applied to study the intrinsic dimensionality of hydrological and biogeochemical processes at the interface between vadose zone, groundwater and surface water bodies, as well as identifying characteristic spatial and temporal scales, driving forces and their interdependencies, and nonstationarities of the system's dynamics. The successful candidate must have a Masters or Diploma degree in hydrology, biology, environmental sciences or a related field and a strong commitment to mathematics and statistics.
Supervisors: Professors Gunnar Lischeid (ZALF Müncheberg), Dörthe Tetzlaff (University of Aberdeen) and Gunnar Nützmann (IGB)
Host organisation: The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to exploring ecosystems in agricultural landscapes and to developing ecologically and economically acceptable land use systems.
If you are interested and for further queries, please contact and send your application to Prof. Gunnar Lischeid (ZALF, Institute of Landscape Hydrology): lischeid@zalf.de
3. Climate change and the ecohydrology of connections between landscapes and riverscapes
This project will seek to integrate empirical and theoretical advancements of catchment hydrology and hydrogeology, model these complex interactions and to understand the ecological implications (e.g. with emphasis on Atlantic Salmon). Recent studies have demonstrated the particular value of environmental tracers for constraining model structures and evaluating future responses of catchments; such approaches will be applied within this project. The project will build upon existing long-term studies that the supervisory team are involved in and will make use of new laser-based stable isotopes analysis. The successful candidate holds a first class or 2.1 BSc or MSc degree in Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Geoecology, Environmental Sciences or a related field and is enthused by the prospect of working in a collaborative team with international participation.
Supervisors: Professors Dörthe Tetzlaff (University of Aberdeen), Gunnar Nuetzmann (IGB), Chris Soulsby (University of Aberdeen).
Host organisation: Northern Rivers Institute, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
If you are interested and for further queries, please contact and send your application to Prof. Dörthe Tetzlaff (Northern Rivers Institute, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Scotland): d.tetzlaff@abdn.ac.uk.
Topic 2 – Internal boundaries
4. Influences of water level fluctuations on sediment water interactions
This project will investigate influences of periodical drying and rewetting on the role of sediments as sink and source for nutrients and carbon. Special attention will be directed to the quality of dissolved organic carbon, redox status and the phosphorus mobility in littoral sediments and fens under alternating water levels. Novel lab experiments and field observations will be combined with modern analytical tools to identify relations between structural changes and reactivity of sediments. The successful candidate must have a Masters degree in Eecology, (Geo)chemistry, Environmental Sciences or a related field and a strong interest in interdisciplinary work.
Supervisors: Dr. Michael Hupfer (IGB), Dr. Jörg Gelbrecht (IGB) and Prof. Henning Jensen (University of Southern Denmark)
Host organisation: Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Berlin, IGB.
Please address enquiries to Dr. Michael Hupfer (
hupfer@igb-berlin.de) and send a single PDF containing the full application document to IGB's personnel office (aqualink@igb-berlin.de).
5. Gas exchange across aquatic boundaries
This project aims at estimating process and flux rates of major greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, and N2O) in freshwater ecosystems. A particular focus is on the impacts of climate change, water level fluctuations, and particle flux on greenhouse gas production, consumption and emission at interfaces both within freshwater ecosystems and between fresh waters and the atmosphere. Research will involve field studies in natural lakes, climate-change experiments in a large enclosure facility in Lake Stechlin north of Berlin, and small-scale lab experiments to elucidate specific mechanisms.
The successful candidate holds an MSc degree in Biology, Ecology, Microbiology, Geoecology or a related field; has prior experience in gas flux measurements and microbial and aquatic ecology; is interested in combining field and lab work, has strong analytical and writing skills, and is enthused by the prospect of working in a collaborative team with international participation.
Supervisors: Prof. Mark Gessner (IGB, Stechlin), Dr. Peter Casper (IGB, Stechlin) and Prof. Henning Jensen (University of Southern Denmark)
Host organisation: Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Berlin (IGB, Stechlin)
Please address enquiries to Prof. Mark Gessner or Dr. Peter Casper (stechlin@igb-berlin.de) and send a single PDF containing the full application document to IGB's personnel office (aqualink@igb-berlin.de).
6. Effects of groundwater seepage on benthic primary producers and their nutrient retention in lakes
Field and laboratory investigations will be carried out to test the hypotheses that groundwater seepage is a determining factor for the development of submerged macrophytes, benthic algae and their interaction in oligotrophic lakes and that these interactions affect the nutrient availability for phytoplankton growth and thus water transparency. The successful candidate must have a Masters degree in Biology, Environmental Sciences or a related field and a strong commitment to aquatic fieldwork.
Supervisors: Dr. Sabine Hilt, Dr. Jörg Lewandowski, Dr. Michael Hupfer and Dr. Christof Engelhardt (IGB)
Host organisation: Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Berlin (IGB, Stechlin)
Please address enquiries to Dr. Sabine Hilt (
hilt@igb-berlin.de) and send a single PDF containing the full application document to IGB's personnel office (aqualink@igb-berlin.de).
Topic 3 – Revitalisation and management
7. Influence of river restoration on groundwater recharge
The PhD candidate will undertake field and lab studies to investigate processes at the groundwater-surface water interface (GSI) using the distributed temperature sensing technology. The research will focus on the effect of heterogeneity in flow at the Niederneunforn study site (Switzerland) and additional field sites. The successful candidate must have a Masters degree in hydrogeology, geology, hydrology, environmental sciences, environmental engineering or a related field.
Supervisors: Professors Mario Schirmer (Eawag), Gunnar Nützmann (IGB) and Dr. Jörg Lewandowski (IGB)
Host organisation: Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, is a Swiss-based but internationally active research institute within the domain of the ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Science and Technology). It is committed to the ecologically, economically and socially responsible management of water.
If you are interested and for further queries, please contact and send your application to Prof. Mario Schirmer (Eawag): mario.schirmer@eawag.ch.
8. Lake Management under changing water levels
The study will focus on the importance of littoral zone of lakes for nutrient mobility and for regime shifts between the phytoplankton and macrophyte dominance under changing water levels. Whole lake and experiments as well as data evaluation of restoration studies will serve to improve the scientific basis for lake management against eutrophication under changing climate and land use. Special attention will be directed to the control of aquatic boundaries by management measures e.g. by addition of P binding chemicals into the sediments. The successful candidate must have a Masters degree in biology, environmental sciences or a related field and a strong commitment to aquatic fieldwork.
Supervisors: Prof. Henning Jensen (University of Southern Denmark), Dr. Peter Kasprzak (IGB, Stechlin).
Host organisation: University of Southern Denmark, Odense/Centre for Lake Restoration (CLEAR). CLEAR headed by SDU aimed at improving the scientific basis for lake restoration through research in the complex interactions between the biological and physical/chemical processes. If you are interested and for further queries, please contact and send your application to Prof. Henning Jensen (University of Southern Denmark, Odense): hsj@biology.sdu.dk
We invite candidates to apply for one or more of the Aqualink PhD positions described above. Applicants should submit a CV, cover letter indicating research interests and experience, and the specific projects they wish to apply for (contact details for the specific studentship projects are given above). Please include a letter of motivation, names and contact details of two referees, and a PDF copy of the Master's Thesis. Electronic applications are preferred. Fluency in English is required. IGB is devoted to increasing the proportion of women in science and particularly encourages female scientists to apply. Disabled persons with equal qualification will be favoured.
Please send your complete application documents until April 29st 2012.
