The Department of Geography at Durham University seeks to appoint a full-time Post-Doctoral Research Associate in Antarctic Molecular Ecology to join the inter-disciplinary research team led by Professor Erin McClymont as part of the Leverhulme Trust-funded project “Unlocking evidence for Antarctic sea-ice evolution from a novel biological archive”. The post is fixed term for 3 years. The PDRA will work under the supervision of both Professor McClymont (Geography) and Professor Rus Hoelzel (Biosciences) at Durham University, and will collaborate with other members of the project team.
The closing date is 24th May, with a start date from 1st September 2022 or as soon thereafter.
The overall aim of this position will be to generate and interrogate genetic information for the past diets of snow petrels (Pagodroma nivea) and to examine how snow petrel colonies have changed over time. The PDRA will analyse modern snow petrel stomach oils and prey to characterise the dominant prey species in the diet, and apply ancient DNA metabarcoding analysis to the deposits in order to complement ongoing geochemical reconstructions of past diet. The project has recovered samples from four geographical regions, which have some overlap, and will test the hypothesis that isolation of snow petrel colonies during times of more extended sea and land ice led to separate lines of evolution.
The full job advert is found here:
Informal queries can be directed to erin.mcclymont[at]durham.ac.uk and a.r.hoelzel[at]durham.ac.uk
More about the project team can be found at https://antsie.webspace.durham.ac.uk/