PhD position in Functional Plant Diversity and Community Assembly (m/f/d)
2025-04-15
As a humanistic, sustainable and action-oriented university, Leuphana University of Lüneburg stands for innovation in education and science. Methodological diversity, interdisciplinary cooperation, transdisciplinary cooperation with practice and an overall dynamic development characterise its research profile in the core topics of education, culture, management/technology, sustainability and state. Its international study model with the Leuphana College, the Leuphana Graduate School and the Leuphana Professional School is unique in Germany and has won many awards.
The University is looking for a responsible, motivated and committed person for the Faculty of Sustainability – subject to final approval - as soon as possible
PhD position in Functional Plant Diversity and Community Assembly(m/f/d)
(salary group EG 13 TV-L, 65%, for a duration of 3 years)
A PhD position in plant ecology is available in the research group of Prof. Vicky Temperton (Ecosystem Functioning and Services, Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany). Research in this group focuses on interactions between plants (both aboveground and belowground) and how this affects ecosystem functioning and services, especially in naturally assembling or restored grassland communities.
This PhD position is part of the long-term research project POEM (Priority Effect Mechanisms) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and forms part of Phase II of the POEM platform in a dry acidic grassland; https://www.benjamindelory.com/poem.html. In the POEM experimental platform, we are studying the potential for priority effects caused by different arrival times of plant functional groups (PFGs: grasses, forbs and legumes), to influence biodiversity and ecosystem function and service outcomes in grasslands. In particular, we have a strong belowground focus on root dynamics and are studying the interaction effect of year of initiation experiments with any priority effects, as we have sub-experiments with the same design that have been set up in different years (2020, 2021, 2025). The POEM experimental platform is one of the longest-running priority effect field experiments worldwide and is unique.
We found a disconnect between the aboveground and the belowground dynamics in our POEM grassland plots. Results from the first phase of POEM show that time-since-establishment of plant communities (how long the vegetation had to develop) and the year of initiation of experiment often drove assembly outcomes more than PFG order of arrival - at least aboveground. In contrast, belowground, a key finding was that order of arrival treatments had significant effects on the depth distribution of roots with legume- or forb-first communities rooting deeper than the others.
In the upcoming second phase of POEM we will make use of the existing POEM platform by prolonging our time-series and by adding new components that allow us to better understand the relative importance of initial weather conditions during the year of initiation and beyond for community trajectories and ecosystem functions. Specifically, during this PhD we aim at exploring temporal shifts in the direction and strength of priority effects on above- and belowground response and how they are modulated by varying weather conditions. A new aspect of the second phase is a focus on effects of drought and how they may modulate priority effects. To this end, we will set up a mesocosm experiment with drought treatments and two different sowing intervals as well as the standard PFG priority effect treatments (legumes, grasses and forbs sown earlier than the other two groups) to elucidate the interactive effect of drought on possible priority effects. In addition, there will be plenty of opportunities to collaborate with collaboration partners from the University of Utrecht (lab groups of Prof. Katie Barry and Prof. Benjamin Delory), who are studying root facilitation with respect to water availability. This project is an excellent opportunity for a scientist with a strong interest in plant sciences, and community ecology (and its possible application in ecological restoration), particularly to complete a doctorate as part of an international research team working at the forefront of priority and restoration research.
Your tasks:
- Fieldwork within the POEM experiment measuring plants above- and belowground as well as within a drought mesocosm experiment (to be established); fieldwork includes learning standard vegetation assessment methods as well as state of the art methods for assessing root dynamics e.g. with minirhizotrons and machine learning in image analysis.
- Analysing data, in particular longer data series from POEM since 2020, and publishing results both at conferences as well as in peer- reviewed journals.
- Taking part in the Institute of Ecology PhD Programme that includes courses in scientific writing and general science methods.
Your profile:
- Master’s degree in plant ecology, biology (plant sciences), restoration ecology or equivalent,
- Curious, highly motivated, with very good writing and communication skills (in English),
- Able to work well within a collaborative research environment,
- Highly interested in field work (e.g., measuring plant traits, plant biomass) and in state-of-the-art techniques used in root research (acquisition of minirhizotron root images and their analysis with the help of machine learning),
- Knowledge of grassland systems and community assembly or root biology is an advantage, as well as having experience in data analysis of ecological experiments (including within the R environment),
- Candidates should preferably own a driver’s license as the field site is in the Lüneburger heathland region (Lüneburger Heide), 40 minutes’ drive from Lueneburg,
- Open to spending a number of weeks in the lab of our project partner (Prof. Hans de Kroon, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) to gain an in-depth understanding of molecular DNA sequencing methods developed to quantify the relative contribution of individual plant species to root biomass production in mixed root samples.
We offer:
- A stimulating and motivating environment in which you will have the opportunity to work in an international team of scientists with strong expertise in functional biodiversity, ecological restoration and plant community assembly research,
- Flexible and family-friendly working hours including options for home office work,
- An opportunity to work in an exciting inter-disciplinary setting in an innovative research field that combines both basic and applied research,
- Networking opportunities with other members of the Institute of Ecology as well as the faculty of Sustainability at Leuphana University, one of the few Universities in Europe to be strongly pushing sustainability as a trans-disciplinary topic that needs addressing from a variety of different fields and perspectives. As such, this position is embedded within a faculty that offers a multitude of opportunities to collaborate in innovative ways,
- Internal and external CPD courses,
- Attractive University sports and health promotion measures for employees.
Your application:
For further information please contact Prof. Dr. Vicky Temperton (Vicky.temperton@leuphana.de).
Leuphana University of Lüneburg promotes professional gender equality and heterogeneity among its members. Applications from people with severe disabilities will be given preferential consideration if they have the same qualifications. Please also note our data protection information for applicants.
We look forward to receiving your application. Please send it with all the usual documents (please without photo) that should include a CV and publications, as well as a cover letter stating why you are applying for the position by 04.05.2025 digitally (summarized in one PDF file) to:
Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
Human Resources and Legal Affairs / Application Management
Subject: POEM II
Universitätsallee 1
21335 Lüneburg