PhD Molecular Ecology - Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of a Megadiverse Mountain Ecosystem in South Ecuador

Tropical montane rain forests of Ecuador are among the most diverse ecosystems of the world and diversity of plants and animals changes with altitude. We investigated free-living protists i.e., testate amoebae along an altitudinal transect and found high morphological diversity within species.
The candidate of this project will investigate the genetic diversity of these morphospecies by sequencing and analyzing the 18S or COI gene to discriminate if morphological variations represent phenotypic plasticity of one species, or if variants are indeed different species. Further, genetic similarity between morphospecies from tropical and temperate regions will be compared.


Methoden:
The applicant should hold a master or diploma in biology, ecology, genetics or related fields and should be enthusiastic and willing to handle small organisms. Experience in molecular techniques and in determination of testate amoebae is beneficial.

Anfangsdatum: 24. Januar 2012

geschätzte Dauer: Contract duration will be for 36 months.

Bezahlung: according to the civil service level TVL 13-65%

Homepage: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/107728.html