Statistical analysis and numerical modelling of plankton communities in lakes.

Applicants with a background in environmental science, biology, physics, mathematics, oceanography or similar discipline are welcome to apply. Required are good mathematical skills, experience with computers and a strong interest in numerical modelling and statistical analysis in ecosystem research.

The research topic is: “Seasonal and long-term phytoplankton trait dynamics during trophic change and a regime shift in phytoplankton biomass”. The research project is part of the DFG priority program DynaTrait. The main research objective of the project is a better prediction of the response of phytoplankton communities to changing forcing conditions using trait based approaches. The phytoplankton com-munity of Lake Constance serves as model system.
The main tasks involved in the project are:
– Statistical analysis of trait dynamics of phytoplankton in Lake Constance on seasonal and long-term time scales.
– Numerical modelling of the development of different functional groups in a vertically resolved water column to investigate the consequences of the traits of the functional groups for phyto-plankton community dynamics.
– Investigation of the consequences of the trait dynamics under trophic change for phytoplank-ton biomass and herbivores based on experiments with the numerical model.

This is a joint project by F. Peeters and D. Straile. Links to the research groups of Frank Peeters and Dietmar Straile see at: http://www.limnologie.uni-konstanz.de/peeters/ and http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Bio/limno/ags/straile/.