Stillingstittel:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Evolutionary Ecology (Ref. 2016/7079)

Stillingsbeskrivelse:
The University of Oslo is Norway’s largest institution of research and education with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.

A three year position as postdoctoral research fellow available available at Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences.

The position is available from 1 September, 2016. Within the framework of the position duties may be assigned. No one can be appointed for more than one specified period at the same institution.

The Postdoctoral fellow will be part a large-scale international project (Size-dependent anthropogenic perturbations – from genes to ecosystems and back) financed by the Norwegian Research Council in which we will map individual variation in life history (somatic growth and maturation) and behaviour (food intake and risk-taking foraging) onto gene expression profiles. In parallel, we will measure the cascading effects of medaka Oryzias latipes body-size evolution into pond food webs, and examine how these cascading effects alter the natural selective forces that act back on medaka phenotypes.

The position will be affiliated to CEES, a national centre of excellence (CoE), situated at the Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo. The appointment is for a period of three years, where the first year will be situated in Paris, France. The successful candidate will integrate an outstanding international research consortium gathering ecologists, molecular physiologists, bioinformaticians and geneticists in Norway and France: the Weltzien lab at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences , the Institute for Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris at Université Pierre et Marie Curie, and the Laboratory for Evolution, Genomes, Behaviour and Ecology of CNRS in Gif sur Yvette.

Project description

Adaptive evolution is driven both by selective forces and trait genetic architectures (evolvability). Additionally, selection itself may alter trait evolvability and simultaneously reshape the adaptive landscape that acts back on phenotypes through so-called eco-evolutionary feedback loops. Integrating this whole suite of gene-to-ecosystem processes into a coherent framework is a major next step in biology. However, to date, this framework remains largely theoretical. The goal of the 3-year postdoc project is to understand whether and how genetic architectures constrain response to selection acting on body size in the medaka. We have been conducting a bi-directional selection experiment during 8 generations. Preliminary results suggest that medaka can evolve larger, but not smaller, body sizes. Additionally, selection on body size induces a response in correlated traits (size at maturity, body shape, behavior). The postdoc will have to manage in parallel (i) continuation of the selection experiment for further 4 generations, (ii) develop and improve phenotyping protocols on the selected lines, and (iii) analyze and model the collected data.

Qualifications:

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition of being a leading research faculty. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Applicants must hold a PhD-degree (or other corresponding education equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree) and document solid experience in evolutionary biology. The candidate will work in close collaboration with the rest of the project team and it is expected that t

Minstelønn: 0

Maksimal lønn: 0

Arbeidsgiver Navn: Universitetet i Oslo, CEES, Department o

Arbeidsgiver adresse: 0313 OSLO

Job kort beskrivelse: University and higher education teachers

Land: Norge

Region: Oslo

Kilde til jobbtilbud: NAV, Offentlige arbeidsformidlinger, Norge

Lønn valuta: NOK

Lønn periode: Pr. år